Desperation
by Jelp
Summary: Everyone has a snapping point, even Hinata. And when Hinata snaps, her secret fantasy becomes her new desperation: lose her virginity to Naruto by any means possible.
1. Prologue: Irrational

This fic is dedicated to my sexy fiancé (byaringan22).

Enjoy!

**Desperation**

**Prologue: Irrational**

Everyone is entitled to a moment of insanity during his or her lifetime. Some are even entitled to more than one break down. Some people never cash in on their opportunity to go a bit insane or to have their mental break down. Some abuse this "privilege."

For Hyuuga Hinata her moment of insanity came when she found out that the man that she had loved for more than half of her life was getting married to someone else.

The announcement that Uzumaki Naruto and Yamanaka Ino were getting married had shocked a lot of people. Hinata had had no idea that the two had even been friends, let alone that they were dating. Apparently Sakura hadn't known that her former best friend and fellow teammate had been dating either because when Hinata had asked her for details Sakura hadn't believed her.

"Sakura-chan, how long did Ino and Naruto date before they decided to get married?" Hinata had asked Sakura miserably. Sakura had _laughed_ at her.

"What are you talking about Hinata? They've never dated, and they certainly aren't getting married," Sakura had said, looking at Hinata strangely. Hinata looked at Sakura confused before then showing Sakura the announcement she had seen in _The Leaf_, Konoha's only newspaper.

Hinata was rather grateful that Sakura had been surprised because it meant that at least Hinata wasn't the only one left out of the loop. Then again, being the one to break the news to Sakura had been rather scary.

"WHAT THE HELL DO THOSE TWO THINK THEY'RE DOING?!" Sakura had screeched, taking the paper Hinata had given her, and leaving in an angry huff to God only knew where. Though Hinata had a slight inkling Sakura was seeking Ino, Naruto, or both of them out, but Hinata was never one to be sure of anything.

Sighing, Hinata went to see if she could find someone else to ask about the news. It was shocking news to everyone she had asked. Even Shikamaru had opened his mouth in astonishment, too shocked to even mutter something like "troublesome." Why hadn't anyone known about this? Even she had missed it! She had paid attention to Naruto for a good majority of her life, and she had never once seen any indication that Naruto liked Ino. None. Nothing. She hadn't thought that Ino even liked Naruto as a friend. Acquaintance, maybe; friend, no.

To think that Ino, a girl that Naruto had minimal interaction with, someone who had made fun of him in his childhood was now the woman becoming Naruto's bride made something inside Hinata ache.

The ache grew and grew as the day went on, and as night came, the ache had become unbearably painful. The news from that morning's newspaper had sparked a lot of interest among the Konoha shinobi, but no one had seemed to know anything more than what the newspaper clipping had said. No one could find Ino or Naruto to clarify the announcement. A part of Hinata hoped that it was all a grand hoax, but the fact that no one could find either Naruto or Ino seemed to indicate otherwise. Without someone to clarify the situation, all poor Hinata could do was speculate in misery.

She could, perhaps, have understood why Naruto would choose Sakura as a love interest considering that they were teammates. But someone who Naruto had hardly spent any time with? It hurt Hinata. She was there. She was right there in front of him, and he hadn't noticed her. She was shy; she knew that. Everyone knew that. But, she was also caring, wasn't she?

These thoughts built up within Hinata, leaving her to mull over her thoughts until the wee hours of the morning, wondering why Naruto hadn't ever looked her way.

In this situation, like many others before her, when a shy, quiet, and usually very caring person has had a lot dumped on them, has had a lot of hardship thrown their way, there comes a cracking point where that individual snaps, and usually does something extremely foolish.

And what Hinata did was certainly foolish.

She was unable to get her thoughts around the idea of why Naruto had never noticed her romantically, and she wondered why he had chosen _Ino_ of all people. These thoughts turned more and more upsetting as the night continued. She began to obsess over the fact that Ino would be with the man that she loved. Ino, who she truly felt was a good person, just wasn't good enough for Naruto. Naruto deserved better. And she thought that after stalking – _er_ – watching Naruto for so long, Hinata could give him better.

Hinata didn't stop to think about what Naruto might want.

Hinata didn't stop to think about the consequences of her actions.

Hinata didn't stop to rationally think. _Period_.

Her mind muddled by sleep deprivation, Hinata set out during the wee hours of that very morning to fulfill the foolish plan her upsetting thoughts had led her to.

Her plan (her very foolish, selfish, and outrageous plan): lose her virginity to Naruto by any means possible.

**Next Chapter: Almost Rape**

* * *

This is a romantic comedy, though it does have a bit of angst thrown in along the way. Reviews appreciated. - Jelp


	2. Chapter 1: Almost Rape

FYI, Hinata may seem a bit OOC in this chapter, but as explained in the Prologue, she had snapped. After this chapter, she starts acting normally again…sort of.

**Desperation**

**Chapter 1: Almost Rape**

It took Hinata twenty minutes to walk from her house to Naruto's apartment. It was still rather early in the morning when Hinata made it to the outside of Naruto's place. He had a small balcony with a chair and a few plants littered around the edges. She took a moment to admire the great view that Naruto had of the rest of Konoha before activating her byakugan to make sure that Naruto was home. There had been people out looking for both Naruto and Ino all day, but no one had found either of them.

Hinata was relieved when she found Naruto home – and without Ino. A part of her had feared that Ino would be at Naruto's apartment with him staying the night. The idea of the two of them together made the pain in Hinata's chest constrict tighter around her heart.

Locating Naruto lying on his bed had taken no time at all. However, it had taken Hinata a few more seconds to realize that he was not asleep as she had presumed he would be. He held one hand extended from his body as though he hadn't ever studied the back of his hand before. It took another few seconds for Hinata to realize that Naruto _was_ studying his hand, or rather, what appeared to be a ring on his hand.

Hinata's heart sped up as she saw that small detail in her byakugan, and she deactivated it, a sorrowful gasp escaping her lips.

So it was true. They were engaged. Or...something more. Hinata knew of the practice where some men and women exchanged rings as a means to show that they were engaged to be married. However, Hinata was fairly certain that the men didn't wear their wedding rings until after they were married.

What if…what if Naruto and Ino had already gotten married and that was why Naruto was wearing his ring? That thought left her as soon as it had come though. If they had truly been married the same day as their engagement announcement, then surely Ino would have stayed for their wedding night.

Still, it made Hinata feel extremely uncomfortable to see Naruto wearing that little ring, studying it in the wee hours of the morning. For one, it made catching him unaware more difficult as he wasn't even asleep yet.

As quiet as the ninja that she was, Hinata opened the outside door to Naruto's apartment. She barely had time to move inside the door before Naruto appeared before her, kunai held out in hand. Apparently she wasn't quiet enough for his hearing.

"It's just me," Hinata squeaked gently.

"Hinata?" Naruto asked in surprised hesitance, the kunai still gripped in his hand. His eyes softened as he looked at her, but he was clearly confused at her arrival, especially by entering his place through his balcony door at such a late hour. "What are you doing here?"

"It's okay Naruto. This is just a dream," Hinata murmured softly. Naruto tilted his head to the side and scrunched his eyes together in deeper confusion, looking like he wasn't sure if he should believe her or not, though her explanation seemed like the likeliest scenario.

"Uh, really?" Naruto asked skeptically.

"Of course," Hinata said, praying to whoever might be listening to her that he would believe her. "Would I do this if I weren't a dream?" Hinata was so proud of herself as she slowly unzipped her jacket, watching Naruto's face soften as he watched her hand pull her zipper down.

She hadn't planned for him to be truly involved in the foreplay, so she actually hadn't bothered to dress sexually for the occasion. Actually, she hadn't truly bothered to really dress. As her zipper slid slowly down, her skin appeared beneath the opening, the curvature where her breasts met peeked out, followed by her thin torso. Her hand slid the zipper all the way down, the slight pop signaling the end. She ran her fingers slowly up the end of the zipper teeth before her hands stopped right around her breasts, pulling her jacket away from her skin to show her nakedness beneath it.

Hinata let her jacket fall to the ground behind her. She was exposed with Naruto watching her, and despite the adrenaline kick, Hinata couldn't help but cross her arms in front of her chest. Even so, she did her best to allow most of her breasts to be seen as Naruto's eyes were fixated on her.

It was at that moment feeling such little embarrassment that Hinata knew there was something wrong with her. She half questioned her sanity. The other half didn't care.

"Dreaming," Naruto murmured as he watched her. Hinata took in a deep, shuddering breath as she grasped the side of her pants, linking her fingers inside of her panties as well, and pulled them down her legs. As she stood, she stepped out of her clothing, daintily putting her feet back on the ground as she showed off her now fully naked body. The tension in her shoulders wouldn't leave her, but she managed to allow her hands to fall to her sides as she drew confidence from the way that Naruto stared hungrily at her.

Finding confidence that only seemed to come to her when Naruto was around (or more likely because she had finally snapped), Hinata stepped closer to him. The movement seemed to snap Naruto out of his stupor at her peep show, and his head snapped back up from staring at her naked body to stare straight into her eyes.

Gently she placed her left hand over the kunai that Naruto held in his right hand. He let her take the kunai from him, and she tossed it to the floor with a clatter. She felt slightly unnerved as Naruto stared into her eyes, wondering when he would push her away, wondering when he would realize that this was more than just a dream, but his blue eyes never left hers as she slowly brought her right hand up to his cheek. Shakily, her nerves getting to her, she pressed her naked body against his clothed one as she slowly and gently pressed her lips to his.

Naruto's lips were warm and moist, and the contact made Hinata's stomach tighten in a way that only her darkest fantasies made her feel. Her thoughts sexually fueled her body's sudden contact with Naruto's lips as she felt her confidence grow tenfold as she threw her other arm around Naruto and pressed herself against him.

With a gasp, Naruto pulled away from her, his hands suddenly at her waist to keep her at arm's length. His eyes were hazy as he looked at her again.

"Hi-hinata," Naruto stuttered out her name in surprise. The stutter made Hinata smile devilishly. It must have seemed like an uncharacteristic smile for Naruto only stared at her in greater surprise. It didn't matter. He had pushed her away in surprise: that was all.

Hinata put her hands to Naruto's waist, sliding her cool hands underneath Naruto's nightshirt. She trailed her fingers along Naruto's sides before she gently tickled his stomach. He shivered at the touch, his eyes closing in pleasure as she continued to explore his body beneath his top. She finally moved her hands to grasp his shirt to pull it over his head.

Naruto helped her as she pulled his shirt over his head, her hands trailing over the muscles of his arms as his shirt came off. Once his shirt hit the floor, Hinata's hands were back on Naruto's chest, trailing her fingertips over his lean body, as she enjoyed the feeling of his soft skin stretched against his hard muscles.

Her fingering stopped as Naruto's hands slid to her sides, gently tracing patterns against her body. She shuddered and pressed her breasts against his chest as he stroked her.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata purred.

"This dream smells good," Naruto murmured as he put his face in her hair. Hinata sighed as Naruto traced her back with his hands. She wrapped her arms around Naruto's backside, sliding her fingers beneath his night shorts as she slid her nails along his skin while pulling the shorts off of him, only finding resistance as the fabric got caught for a moment on Naruto's erection.

And then, Naruto was naked.

Hinata could feel her body tighten as her naked body pressed against Naruto's, his body warm against hers. She could feel the way his cock pressed hard, yet softly, against her stomach. Her clit began to beat as though with a heartbeat of its own at the pleasure that began to course through her, starting at her vagina and warming the rest of her. Hinata snaked her arms around Naruto's neck and she pressed her body against his as tightly as possible as she rose on tiptoe to kiss him full on the lips.

Naruto's arms wrapped around her back, his warm, slightly callused hands gripping her body just as tightly against him. Hinata couldn't help the soft moan that escaped her as Naruto moved his lips against hers; his mouth opening slightly as he softly trailed his tongue over her top lip. She opened her mouth in delight as he began to slowly stroke her tongue from inside her mouth.

Pulling away with a slightly wet sucking sound, Hinata pressed her cheek against his and whispered as seductively as she could muster in his ear.

"The bed," Hinata whispered. Naruto seemed slightly confused again, so Hinata lightly pressed her hand against Naruto's chest and pushed him backward gently till his legs hit the bed. He sat down first before sliding his legs onto the bed, lying on his back, looking up at her expectantly.

Hinata froze for half a moment as she stared at her naked prey. Part of her realized that whenever she had imagined this situation, she somehow managed to find herself beneath Naruto on the bed. Yet now, with the way that he stared up at her made her think that _his_ scenario was a bit different. She moved quickly, not wanting her courage to fail her, nor wanting Naruto to finally realize that he truly wasn't dreaming, she put her hands on either side of Naruto's body and slowly began to straddle Naruto's waist.

She tilted her head upward so she looked away from Naruto as she activated her byakugan so she could watch as she lowered herself onto Naruto's erection. Her breathing sped up as she watched the head of his penis brush against her body, shuddering as she felt his warmth against her entrance. She spread her legs wide, feeling grateful for the training she had as a shinobi to allow her body to spread around Naruto's girth.

Hinata bit her lip as she felt slight friction inside of her, despite the strange slickness that coated her insides, watching as what appeared to be a slight layer of skin with a small opening prevented Naruto from filling her further. The slight pain she felt as the skin tore didn't even register as being worth caring about on her pain meter; she was a shinobi and pain was a part of what came with what she did.

And then, Naruto was inside her.

Hinata settled her legs on Naruto's sides, letting the weight of what she had done, what she was _doing_, set in as she straddled Naruto's body beneath hers. Her actions were finally catching up with her, and she began to take short, gasping breaths in her sudden, and horribly timed panic attack.

'What am I doing?' Hinata screamed mentally to herself. She stayed still, desperate for her senses to leave her again as what she was doing crashed around her. 'I'm manipulating poor Naruto-kun, and – and, ooh, I'm so sorry Ino!' Hinata thought wildly, her panic attack finally letting her mind wrap around what was right and what was not. This was _not_.

Thankfully (at least thankfully for Hinata's temporary state of mind) Naruto had other plans to distract her from her conscious.

Hinata's short breaths turned into a surprised gasp as Naruto's hands found her waist. He gripped her firmly as he lifted her body off of his before pulling her hips back down against his body, his hips thrusting up into her.

"Aaah!" Hinata moaned in shock as Naruto began to thrust inside of her, using his hands to help lift her body up and down on his. The pleasure of Naruto moving inside of her made all of Hinata's common sense vanish once more as her senses heightened. The feel of Naruto inside of her made her want to explode as he thrust into her. It was like something was building inside of her, desperate to escape her body.

Hinata moved her hands to grip Naruto's shoulders, unaware that her nails were leaving marks on him with her death grip. She used her hands to help thrust against him, letting her hips rise and fall to meet his as that beautiful pressure began to build inside of her.

Once Hinata started moving against him, Naruto moved his hands to her breasts, cupping them with his thumb under the bottom curvature of her breast while kneading her. She moaned at the extra pleasure, and increased the speed of her thrusts to show her happiness at his attentions. He enthusiastically increased his speed to keep up with her.

After thrusting against him for who knew how long while his hands kneaded and pleasured her, Hinata gasped in shock as she felt her orgasm hit her, her body jerking as waves of pleasure jerked through her, her lower body flooding with pleasure as she felt her juices slide out from her and onto Naruto's cock. Her emotional high began to leave her as Naruto's body arched into hers, her entire body lifted off the bed as he moved his hands to grip her. She had to grip his shoulders to prevent herself from sliding off of his body as his strength rocked her slightly to the side. He moved his hands to her waist, gripping her tightly as he slammed his body roughly into hers with several hard, jerky thrusts as he orgasmed inside of her, his essence mixing with her own.

Naruto gasped for breath beneath her as his body lowered back to the bed, her body still on top of his, his now wilted erection still softly inside of her.

Shakily, Hinata slid her body off of Naruto's, breathing heavily as she watched the way Naruto's eyes were closed, his chest moving as he took deep breaths of his own. Hinata slid to the side of the bed, carefully putting her feet on the floor.

She bent over and kissed Naruto on the forehead as he looked up at her.

"Happy dreaming," she murmured before she gently pressed his eyelids closed. Not bothering to see if he opened his eyes again, Hinata grabbed her clothes, dressed, and dashed away from Naruto's apartment, terrified that her one night lover would figure out that she truly hadn't been a dream.

Even her beloved Naruto-kun wasn't that dense, right?

**Next Chapter: Almost Back to Normal**

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. - Jelp


	3. Chapter 2: Almost Back to Normal

I don't recall if I've mentioned a disclaimer before this chapter or not, but I don't own Naruto, and I'm not making any money off of writing this fic. Disclaimer applies for all chapters.

**Desperation**

**Chapter 2: Almost Back to Normal**

Hinata awoke late the next morning, feeling sated from the wonderful dream that she had had. It had felt so real that she wished that she would go back to sleep, once again immersed in such a pleasant state of dreaming.

In her dream, she and Naruto had been getting married. She had been so happy as Naruto kept coming up to her at the reception, picking her up and twirling her around in his excitement that they were finally married. It was a dream that she often had whenever she had had a particularly good experience with Naruto the day before, like the time that they had talked before Naruto's chuunin exam, or like the time that Naruto had gotten back from his three-year training.

Hinata hugged her pillow, trying to remember the encounter that she had had with Naruto that would spark such a lovely dream. She stretched out, and suddenly she could _feel_ the reason behind what had made her have that dream as the memories of the night before came back to her upon feeling the not quite soreness between her legs.

"Oh...oh..._no_..." Hinata whispered. Had she...? Had they...? Hinata began to gasp for breath as she slowly slid her hand down between her legs. She could still feel her wetness there, feel _his_ wetness, as she hadn't bothered to clean up upon returning home.

Her entire body shook as she began to go into shock. She slowly rolled out of bed, still shaking, as she stripped the sheets from her bed, pulling them around her body (even though she had changed into a long nightshirt) and headed to her bathroom to shower.

She almost didn't want to let the sheets fall from around her body, nor did she want to take off her nightshirt. She thought about brining them into the shower with her, letting the water soak her body along with her sheets and shirt, but decided against it. As soon as she stripped she got into the shower as quickly as possible, feeling somehow all the more unsure of herself because of what she had done. She felt insecure in her own skin as though she had been raped (instead of the one doing the manipulating), as though her mental break down had been a _self_-rape. Last night she had lost her senses, and now that they had returned to her, she didn't trust herself.

The water ran down her body as she tried to catch a grip on her breathing, but the more she tried to calm herself down, the worse it got. Tears began to flow from her eyes, and she decided to let them come. _What had she done?_ What had she been thinking? What if Naruto realized that what had happened between them hadn't been a dream? But of course he would realize it hadn't been a dream! Naruto didn't exactly strike her as the type of guy that would dream about another girl while he was engaged with someone else. Then again, he hadn't seemed to mind so much last night. Part of her was actually disappointed in Naruto's lack of moral standards; even in his dreams he should try and be more faithful, but Hinata couldn't hold it against him. After all, she was the one that had seduced him.

Hinata couldn't help but let out a small, hysterical laugh at the irony of her seducing _anyone_, let alone her precious Naruto-kun. She had been after him for _years_, and when he was finally with someone else, Hinata had finally found the courage to be able to seduce him.

Then again, courage might not be the right word for what Hinata had done. First of all, it truly wasn't courageous, more like stupid and selfish. Second, Hinata doubted she could do what she had done last night ever again. It had been a freak thing, a one-time thing: something that had happened spur of the moment due to her desperation. There were all sorts of stories of people doing incredible things when pushed to their limits. She knew an elderly woman who had had a dog that weighed almost as much as she had. When the dog got injured, the woman had been able to miraculously lift the dog in order to carry the dog to the vet down the street. Shinobi were always sharing incredible stories of civilians doing things when they were desperate against attacking shinobi. Hinata could now add her own story to the list.

But now what?

She'd had...goodness..._sex_...with _**Naruto**_. Her Naruto-kun. She almost wanted to giggle at the fact that she had fulfilled her dream of losing her virginity to Naruto. Yet another part of her wanted to sob as she had also always imagined it would be on their wedding night with Naruto _knowing_ what was going on because they loved each other.

For a long time she stood in the shower without moving, letting the water fall around her. Finally she got a hold of herself. She was a shinobi, and she couldn't just lose it. If there were the odd chance that Naruto ended up believing that he had only been dreaming, she would have to pretend that nothing had happened. Even if he did remember, she couldn't just drown herself in the shower. What kind of a shinobi was she? She had more mental will power than this. And even if she didn't, she would pretend that she did – for Naruto's sake.

If Naruto wanted to marry Ino, there was no way that Ino would be okay with the idea of the two of them having sex. So if Naruto told Ino, Hinata would beg for her forgiveness. And, while Hinata didn't truly want to see Naruto marry Ino, after her bout of insanity, she did realize that she wanted Naruto to be happy. If Ino made Naruto happy, then Hinata would do everything in her power to make sure that Naruto had everything he wanted.

She would make up for her desperation by making sure that Naruto and Ino were the happiest they could possibly be together. With a newfound determination, she began to wash in the shower, the numbness slowly fading. She ignored where she could see Naruto's finger marks along her hips where he had gripped her so tightly to enter her the night before, ignored the way her heart-constricted as she thought of his hands gripping Ino that way. Instead she set to work on formulating her plan at redemption.

* * *

While anyone else might have put their plan into action right away, Hinata decided to wait a little bit before putting her plans into motion.

In other words, she waited two weeks until she actually ran into him, not even on purpose.

The entire two weeks had been nothing but a sort of numbing dream to Hinata. It wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. She constantly felt like people could see that she had lost her virginity (especially since there were so many byakugan users at her house, she honestly wasn't sure how many of them would look to see if she still had her hymen). There was also the constant guilt that made her feel as though someone would be able to tell with just once glance that she had seduced Naruto and made her lovable Naruto-kun cheat on his fiancé.

And the question as to whether or not Naruto and Ino were really engaged had been answered. Yes, they were engaged, and it was actually rather hot gossip amongst the shinobi. Ironically enough, no one talked to her about it, though she had even heard shinobi talking about it in the Hokage office. She wondered if people knew that she still cared about Naruto and were trying to be polite about not rubbing it in her face that he was now taken.

It had been Kurenai who had asked her, eight days after she had seduced Naruto if she had known that Naruto was engaged. Hinata had explained very calmly that yes, she had heard, and that she hoped Naruto was happy. Everyone seemed a bit shocked at her calm answer, and even Shino looked like he wanted to say something. (Kurenai had quietly told Shino to let her be.) Apparently Kurenai felt bad for her because she gave Hinata a lot more praise on the next few missions they went on.

It was back from a mission that Hinata finally saw Naruto for the first time since the night she had now come to think of as "the seduction." Naruto was with Sasuke, the two of them looking a bit ruffled up, both of them clearly having just come from a training session.

"Using the replacement technique was not that funny," Sasuke muttered darkly.

"Oh come off it! It was hilarious! You should have seen your face when you realized I used the technique to replace my body with your sword. You flailed your arms around your back to see if it was really your sword!"

"Next time, I'll kill you with my sword before you get the chance, and I did _not_ flail," Sasuke growled darkly to himself.

"What did you say?" Naruto asked.

"Nothing," Sasuke clipped, though Naruto narrowed his eyes, knowing better than to believe it was nothing. Hinata had half a mind to tell Naruto what Sasuke had said, when Sasuke was far away from them and didn't know that she had been the one to say it of course. Sasuke was kind of scary in Hinata's opinion.

Hinata had gotten so absorbed in watching Naruto interacting with Sasuke that she hadn't realized that her teammates had left her far behind, and she almost turned away from Sasuke and Naruto with a jolt when she didn't know what she was going to say to Naruto if he turned and saw her staring at him. At the moment, Naruto seemed a bit preoccupied with talking to Sasuke as he began to change the subject from their latest sparring match to Ino.

"Ino cooked me this amazing dish last night. It was one of the best I ever had! Whatever your favorite food is, I'll bet Ino could cook it to perfection," Naruto said. Sasuke arched an eyebrow.

"Well it's not ramen, so unless she knows how to cook anything other than noodles, I'm not impressed," Sasuke said airily. Naruto looked crestfallen.

"Come off it Sasuke! Why are you being such a prick about this? Why do you keep putting everything I say about Ino down?" Naruto asked. Sasuke sighed and shook his head.

"I'm not an idiot, Naruto. There's something up with you just deciding to marry Ino. And whatever it is, I don't think I like it."

Hinata was taken aback at what Sasuke said (not to mention the fact that she wasn't sure she had ever heard him talk that much in one breath before).

But Naruto didn't seem shocked about what Sasuke said. Instead, he seemed angry.

"How many times have I told you that you don't know what you're talking about? We love each other a lot," Naruto said, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

"Naruto, stop lying to me, and damnit, stop lying to _yourself_. I still think you're lying – even if you don't know it. You're not in love. You're just excited that someone finally likes you. That's not love. And those lies are hurting more people than you realize with this charade," Sasuke said, and as he said it, he glanced at Hinata for a brief moment, as though speaking to her before turning back to Naruto. Naruto saw how Sasuke's eyes seemed to get distracted for a moment, and he turned to see what Sasuke had looked at. Hinata looked around her to see if there was anything she could hide behind, and she quickly ducked behind a wall. She peeked back out to see if she had been detected.

Naruto's eyes met Hinata's, and he went still as his blue eyes widened. A blush crept up his cheeks and he turned to Sasuke muttering something quickly about how he needed to leave and wandered off.

All Hinata could think about was that Naruto _knew_. He knew it hadn't been a dream.

A cold weight settled in her as she watched Naruto disappear in the crowd, wondering how she was ever going to face him again.

She also wondered how she could be so stupid as to peek back so quickly and let him see her. And why didn't she just hide and activate her Byakugan? What kind of shinobi was she? Why did Naruto always see the worst side of her, yet was able to bring out her best side? _Stupid stupid stupid_! Naruto made her stupid.

Naruto also made her heart ache. She had cooked for Naruto before when they had gone on missions together, but that didn't seem like a big deal to him now. It made her heart ache to know that Ino had captured Naruto's attentions instead of her. Hinata took in a deep shuddering breath. She wanted Naruto happy, and she would make him happy as best she could, even if it made her feel so miserable.

**Next Chapter: Guilty Conscience**

* * *

Poor Hinata. (My fiancé/editor laughed at me when reading this and added "As you're the one that's causing her suffering.") But – but – I do it out of love! There'd be no story if she didn't have to work for it. (My poor, poor fiancé has to put up with me too.)

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! - Jelp


	4. Chapter 3: Guilty Conscience

**Desperation**

**Chapter 3: Guilty Conscience**

Hinata didn't know what to do after Naruto had seen her and then scampered off. She wondered if she should perhaps head to the Hokage Tower to help hand in the mission report, but her team had left some time ago, and they didn't really need her there to give the report if they had already done so.

Part of her wondered if she ought to chase after Naruto and talk about what had happened. That was a very small part of her and it was killed with a vengeance before it had time to speak its voice.

Feeling rather pathetic, as well as rather useless, Hinata turned and began walking aimlessly through the streets of Konoha.

So, Naruto knew. Or at least, he seemed to know as he had run when he had seen her. Either way it was a bad sign for Hinata. Sasuke seemed to know something, the broodish bastard – whoops, where did that thought come from? She must have Naruto's voice on autopilot because the words had sounded like they had come from Naruto's lips, even in her head.

With everything that had happened in the past few weeks, Hinata idly wondered if perhaps she ought to get her mentality checked.

She'd raped Naruto. Sort of. He had seemed willing enough, but wasn't the whole point that you were supposed to ask someone if they wanted to have sex or not? Wasn't that a fairly important part of it?

Okay, so perhaps it wasn't _that_ bad. He hadn't confronted her about it, so it meant that he probably felt just as responsible. If he had wanted to he could have defended himself.

Hinata shook her head and hugged herself, feeling rather shy and shaky, not sure what she should feel or what she should do. Everything just seemed too strange for her to get her thoughts straight.

"Hello Hinata!"

Hinata froze. For a moment, Hinata wondered if she were hearing things, wondering if she were day dreaming that voice, but then she turned and saw blonde hair coming towards her and she realized that she wasn't dreaming.

"Hello Ino," Hinata managed to squeak out.

"I uh, I wanted to talk to you," Ino said, her blue eyes looking at Hinata's rather seriously.

'She knows!' was the only thought that Hinata could summon to her mind.

"I— I—" Hinata stuttered, trying to form the words to apologize to Ino. She hadn't meant to upset her. She really wanted Naruto to be happy, and she was sure that if Naruto wanted to marry her then Ino was surely capable of doing that.

"I need your help," Ino said, pulling a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Hinata blinked at her.

"Huh?" Hinata squeaked out. Ino giggled.

"You really are so shy and adorable!" Ino said as she reached out and pinched Hinata's cheek. Hinata could do nothing but move her eyes slowly to attempt to look at the spot where Ino had pinched without actually activating her byakugan.

Ino threw her arm around Hinata and began to walk, making Hinata stumble as she began to walk in step with Ino as well.

"As you probably know," Ino said as she flipped her pony-tail behind her shoulder, "Naruto and I are going to get married."

Hinata wondered if this was some sort of test, some sort of trick. Perhaps Ino wasn't sure if Hinata had had sex with Naruto after their engagement. Maybe Hinata could play her seduction off as a bad-timed effort when she hadn't known that Naruto was taken. The engagement had been sudden after all.

"Of course you know! Everyone knows. Everyone's been talking about it," Ino gushed when Hinata didn't say anything for a moment. "And, well," Ino threw a sidelong glance at Hinata conspiratorially. "Well it's no secret that you've-"

Hinata squeaked, her feet sticking to the ground, waiting for Ino to tell her that she knew.

"-gah!" Ino said as she kept walking when Hinata had not, her arm around Hinata's neck jerking her backward. Hinata's hand went to her throat to un-clutch Ino's arm from her neck and gasped.

"Sorry! I'm so, so sorry!" Hinata said, apologizing profusely, tears welling in her eyes. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know what I was thinking! I won't do it again!"

"Geeze, geeze! It's okay!" Ino said, waving her arms around frantically, trying to hush Hinata as all of the guilt from Hinata's actions over whelmed her, and Hinata began to cry. People were looking at them. Ino smiled at the few people who had stopped to see if Hinata was okay while shooing them away though somehow simultaneously trying to hush and calm Hinata down.

"I'm sorry! I-" Hinata's constant stream of apologizes and promises was cut short as Ino clamped her hand over Hinata's mouth.

"She's fine. Don't worry," Ino said to the crowd that had started to gather as she half-drug half-pulled Hinata from the middle of the street to a nearby ally. Two little kids were playing ball, but Ino gave them such a fierce glare that they took their ball and ran, leaving the two women alone in the ally.

Ino finally released her hand from Hinata's mouth and gave her a sharp slap across the face.

"Stop crying," Ino said firmly, but not harshly. Hinata took deep gulps of air, and she actually felt a little better now that Ino had slapped her. She deserved it. Ino put one hand on her hip and another on her head as she gave a sort of bewildered glare at Hinata.

"I'm sorry," Hinata mumbled out again.

"Hinata," Ino said, rubbing at her head, "it was an accident. No big deal," Ino said. Hinata turned to stare at her.

Accident? Hinata's mind took a moment to catch up when she finally realized what Ino thought Hinata was apologizing for. Ino thought that Hinata was apologizing for stopping in the middle of the street so abruptly and dragging her backward.

Was it possible that Ino didn't know? Had Naruto not told her? Then, again, Hinata wondered, did Naruto _really_ even know?

"Ah, yes. Sorry for the hy-hysterics. I came from a d-difficult mission," Hinata stuttered out. Ino gave her a sympathetic look before waving her hand dismissively.

"Shikamaru told me you were weird, but I didn't know just how weird," Ino said thoughtfully, and then added, "Not that being weird is a bad thing or anything."

"Naruto likes weird girls. He told me," Hinata let slip before clamping her hand over her mouth. That had been years ago, and she wasn't sure how Ino would respond to Naruto confiding in Hinata the type of girl that he liked.

"Actually, that's what I need to talk to you about," Ino said. Hinata looked at her puzzled. "Listen, Hinata, besides Sakura, you're the only other girl that seems to really know Naruto. I mean, no offense, but it was kind of obvious that you had that silly little crush on him all those years ago. You watched him and all for so long. Anyway, I need your help. I'm getting married to the man, and I need to know a bit more about him, from a girl's perspective."

Hinata blinked at Ino. Need to know a bit about him? Wasn't that supposed to happen before you decided to get married? Hinata was starting to agree with what Sasuke had said. Something was a bit weird with Naruto and Ino's engagement.

"Why don't you ask Naruto?" Hinata said. It was the most obvious thing to do when you wanted to get to know someone.

"Well, of course, but you know Naruto. He doesn't like to talk about himself that much," Ino said, waving her hand dismissively. For a moment Hinata thought Ino was being sarcastic. Naruto loved talking about himself. When Hinata realized Ino was serious, she began to seriously wonder how long their relationship was going to last.

"But, he does like talking about himself," Hinata practically pouted.

"I know he likes ramen. He wants to be Hokage, and all that other stuff he spouts. I mean, he doesn't ever talk about him – his childhood. He always clams up and changes the topic," Ino said thoughtfully. Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. So Ino had noticed that. It wasn't as bad as Hinata thought, though she was a bit jealous that someone else had noticed that about her...er...Ino's Naruto-kun.

"Well, I don't know quite what to tell you. Shouldn't you ask Sakura about Naruto? She was his teammate when they were younger, and they still do a lot of team missions together," Hinata said thoughtfully.

Ino seemed to beam at Hinata.

"I have! And I'm going to drill her more! But, the point is, Sakura was so mean and nasty to Naruto when they were younger that I think she missed a lot of things. So, what I want to do is have a girl's night out where we talk about Naruto. You won't mind that, right?" Ino asked.

Yes, Hinata minded that very much, but she had promised herself that she would do everything in her power to make Ino and Naruto as happy as possible. So of course she had to agree.

"That sounds nice," Hinata said, smiling slightly. Ino grinned widely and threw her arms around Hinata.

"You're going to be such a big help – you have no idea! And, even though Forehead Gi-er, Sakura is going to be my maid of honor, I think it would be lovely to have you as another bridesmaid. You are the only other female that graduated with the Rookie Nine, and you know both Naruto and me. It just makes perfect sense!" Ino said.

Hinata wasn't sure that made perfect sense, but knowing what she did about Ino, it seemed like perfect Ino reasoning. Then her brain caught up with Ino's words. Her? A bridesmaid? In Naruto's wedding?

"Me, a bridesmaid?" Hinata asked hesitantly.

"Of course! Doesn't that sound so cool? I knew you'd agree," Ino said, smiling. Hinata blinked, wondering when she had agreed, but this bubbly side of Ino that she knew some had found annoying reminded her strangely of Naruto. It was a depressing thought for some reason.

Hinata watched as Ino gave her a big smile, as though Hinata could really help her out. She was going to be telling Ino the things she had seen in Naruto when they had been in the Academy – and even when they were genin. She was going to be a bridesmaid.

In describing her current situation, the word ominous came to Hinata's mind.

"Well, it seems all settled. Meet me at my place tonight at seven. Sakura's going to be there too, and we're going to have a lovely girl's night! See ya!" Ino said, bouncing off happily.

Hinata watched her go. Honestly, Ino did seem more cheerful than Hinata had ever recalled seeing her. Naruto just had that effect on people. Hinata sighed, feeling slightly miserable (okay, so she felt horribly miserable). Even so, she was still happy that Ino didn't seem to know that she'd seduced her fiancé, Naruto didn't seem to outright hate her (he hadn't yelled at her), and she would at least get to see Naruto some more if she were a bridesmaid.

Somehow things would work out. They had to, didn't they?

**Next Chapter: The Past**

* * *

Sorry that I didn't update last week. There were some errors on fanfiction dot net, so I decided not to post. Hope you liked this chapter. - Jelp


	5. Chapter 4: The Past

**Desperation**

**Chapter 4: The Past**

As Hinata walked to Ino's place, she fiddled with her fingers, thinking of ways to get out of her current situation. After much deliberation, she had decided that being a bridesmaid was really _not_ a good idea. First of all, the chances that Naruto didn't want her in the wedding due to what she had done were high. Second of all, the chances of Ino finding out about her seduction were also fairly high, and if that happened, Ino would kick her out of the wedding faster than Naruto inhaled ramen.

She had every intention of politely refusing Ino's proposition of a bridesmaid under the pretense that Hinata truly didn't know Ino that well.

So when Hinata arrived and knocked on Ino's apartment door, she made sure that she wouldn't lose her nerve to refuse Ino and blurted her apology all out in a rush.

"InoI'msorryIcan'tbeyourbridesmaidbecausewedon'tknoweachotherthatwell," Hinata blurted out. Ino gave one blink before smiling widely.

"Nonsense Hinata! I think it'll be great if you're one of my bridesmaids. You're prettier than Sakura, so it will make her look even uglier with the two of us on either side of her," Ino said, flashing her a smile and then giving her a wink. Hinata wasn't sure if Ino was joking or not, but it was obvious that she had said it on purpose to provoke Sakura who Hinata found out milliseconds later was already there and listening in on the conversation.

"WHY YOU PIG! THAT'S SUCH A HORRIBLE AND NASTY THING TO SAY!" Sakura's bellow came from inside the apartment, and Hinata almost clamped her hands over her ears. Ino just smiled widely before opening the door to let Hinata into her apartment.

"Are you saying that you don't think sweet, dear, Hinata is pretty?" Ino asked Sakura as Sakura appeared at the door, her next words dying on her lips. She recovered quickly.

"Hinata is rather adorable, of course, but honestly," Sakura turned toward Hinata, "Ino only asked the two of us to be bridesmaids because we're so nice and no one else likes her," Sakura said, winking at Hinata.

Hinata would have turned tail and run if Ino hadn't slipped behind her and closed the door already.

"Are you two really friends?" Hinata couldn't help but ask. The two of them looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Yeah, yeah. We are. It's just, it's kinda fun to torment each other, you know?"

"Oh," Hinata said, not seeing the fun of it at all.

"I still can't get over the fact that you're marrying Naruto," Sakura said, playing with a strand of her pink hair. Hinata agreed, wondering if she would ever get over that fact. Ino just smiled at Sakura widely.

"Your fault for not seeing the light sooner. Naruto's a great guy. He chased after you for all those years, and yet you turned him down. Your loss, and my monumental gain. He's such a sweetheart. Look at what he gave me!" Ino said as she walked further into her apartment, through her living room, and out onto her balcony. On the balcony sat a plethora of different plants and flowers. It didn't surprise Hinata in the least as Ino did some part time work at the flower shop her family owned.

"Isn't it a bit odd for him to get you a flower when you work at a flower shop?" Sakura asked. Ino rolled her eyes.

"You're so stupid. I like flowers. And besides! He didn't _buy_ it for me. He went out and picked a rare flower that we've never had in the shop before and came back and gave it to me," Ino said, and she smiled as she looked at the flower fondly. Her eyes softened as she looked at the plant, and Hinata felt herself feeling ever so slightly jealous at the adoring and happy look on Ino's face before she squashed the jealousy and remembered she was on a mission to make them happy. "I never knew that he was good with plants before. It's a moonflower. It only blossoms at night."

"They're not _that_ rare, are they?" Sakura asked, crossing her arms. Hinata looked at Sakura curiously, wondering why she was purposely trying to downplay Naruto's gesture. Ino rolled her eyes at Sakura.

"Honestly Sakura, did you every pay attention during ikebana? They don't grow in Konoha! So maybe they're not _that_ rare in general, but they don't grow here so they're rare for our area!" Ino said as she pointed to the tallest plant amongst her flowers. "It's so beautiful. It blooms in half a minute when the moon comes out. Besides, the point is that he went out of his way to pick a flower for me."

"That's very sweet of Naruto-kun," Hinata said, wishing he had done something like that for her.

"Exactly! You see! That's your problem Sakura. You don't understand how to appreciate a good man. Hinata here does," Ino said, grinning widely at Hinata. Hinata's face turned bright crimson, remembering how much she had "appreciated" Naruto a couple weeks earlier. "Awww! You are so adorable!" Ino said, pinching Hinata's cheek again.

"Geeze Ino. She's not a little kid," Sakura said, slapping Ino's hand away from Hinata's cheek.

Hinata wondered if some higher power were punishing her for her actions by having to deal with Ino's strange actions and mannerisms towards her. Ino wrapped an arm (loosely) around Hinata's shoulders and began to drag her back inside, giving a stage whisper.

"I'm telling you, she doesn't understand a good thing when she sees it. She turned Naruto down so many times, and I'll bet she's kicking herself now for it. You've always known how sweet he is, right Hinata?"

For some strange, wicked reason, a naughty little voice in Hinata's head wanted to tell Ino that Naruto did taste very sweet, but thankfully her better judgment interceded and she didn't.

"He's alway-ways been v-very kind," Hinata stuttered out.

"Exactly! Now, down to business," Ino said, sitting on the couch in her living room, as she took out a notepad and pen. "Hinata, what do you remember of Naruto from your childhood?"

If Hinata hadn't been feeling so flustered, she might have given a little giggle at Ino's sudden jump from being so very preppy to sounding like a psychiatrist delving into her past.

"We-well," Hinata started, wondering where to begin. "I first noticed him because of how quiet he used to be."

"Naruto, quiet?" both Sakura and Ino said in unison. Hinata nodded.

"That's what got my attention at f-first. He used to be s-so quiet and we-well behaved that I thought that since I was quiet t-too that we might become friends. No one else seemed to p-pay any attention to him other than me. It was like he wa-wasn't even there to most other people," Hinata said, her voice sad as she remembered what had first brought her attention to Naruto.

"That's...that's so sad," Ino said, her blue eyes widening. "I really don't remember him from when we were first at the academy. Maybe he was so quiet that no one noticed him. All I remember was...Sasuke," Ino said, and there was a hint of regret and shame in her voice.

"Yeah," Sakura said, and she sounded even more shame-filled and regretful. Ino gave her a sharp look but then turned her attention back to Hinata, looking at her expectantly to continue.

"He ended up getting m-much, much louder after a while. It was obvious he didn't like being ignored. So he drew attention to himself, even by being a goofball or a screw-up so that s-someone paid attention to h-him. I w-wish I'd had the courage to be able to talk to him. Then maybe he would have known that someone had their attentions on him," Hinata mumbled the last bit.

Ino and Sakura looked even guiltier.

"Knowing Naruto like I do now," Sakura said, looking at her hands, "that makes a lot of sense. I think he's loud a lot, not to be rude or obnoxious-"

"-though you hit him for it anyway-" Ino interjected angrily. Sakura glared at her but continued as if she hadn't said anything.

"-but I think he does it because he's just used to being that way. Like it became habit to him. Once he came back from training with Jiraiya-sama, Naruto seemed so much more confident. Still loud at times, but not like he was doing it on purpose to get attention, more like he just did it," Sakura said thoughtfully, as if she'd never considered this before but now that she was talking about it, it seemed to make perfect sense.

"He was always so lonely, especially whenever he used to swing," Hinata remembered sadly.

"Swing?" Ino asked.

"Yes, the swing out in front of the academy, Naruto used to swing on it a lot. Especially when people had made f-fun of him. No one really bothered him, or looked close enough at him to see how unhappy he was."

"He always used to laugh so loud. It used to annoy me. Now it makes me sad thinking about how he must have forced it," Ino said sadly. Hinata shook her head.

"I don't think he forced it all that much. While he was trying to be a goofball, and while he used to get sad a lot more than people would probably think, he's really quite a happy person, at least now. He took what he had, and he made the best of it. I'm sure Naruto probably was laughing from his heart because it made him feel good."

"Yeah, he does that. He's not one to get depressed for long," Sakura said, smiling fondly as she fiddled with the armrest of her chair. "You know what I've always wondered?" Sakura said, looking away kind of sadly, "I always kind of wondered if Naruto only ate ramen because that was all that he could afford."

Hinata laughed.

"I doubt that," Hinata said, giggling. "He could have grown fruits and vegetables, or even bought them cheaper than what he spends on all those specialty flavors of ramen. Besides, a bag of rice is a lot cheaper than ramen."

"Yeah, but, where did he get his money from as a kid? He was an orphan. Did his parents have a trust fund set up for him? Who were his parents? How did they die? What happened to Naruto after they died? How does Konoha's child system work? How much money did he get? Where did he grow up? Someone had to take care of him as a baby. It's not like he could feed himself and change his own diapers," Ino said thoughtfully.

That made Hinata stop and think. It was something that she had always wondered about too. Who were Naruto's parents? What had happened to them? How had Naruto grown up? While Hinata had heard some highly interesting and entertaining rumors, she wasn't sure that she believed them. And who did raise Naruto? Who was his caretaker? Was he raised at an orphanage? If so, what orphanage? If not, then where did he call home until he was deemed old enough to take care of himself?

There were so many questions that she had always wondered that now with Ino asking them of her, she truly wanted to find out.

"I don't know," Hinata sighed.

"I bet Tsunade-sensei knows," Sakura said.

"_Naruto_ would know," Hinata said.

"But we can't ask him now," Ino countered.

"What do you mean?" Hinata wondered.

"For starters, I think he left for a mission this evening. And, well, we've all known him for so long, I mean, to finally be asking all of this information now is rather insulting to him that we didn't ask him for it before," Ino said, wringing her hands together.

"But, you're going to marry him. Shouldn't he want to tell you these things?" Hinata asked. Ino looked away from her.

"You don't understand. I _did_ ask, but he just laughed and said it was boring and unimportant. I think he meant it too. It made me feel so bad because I think that he doesn't think his past is important. Not that he doesn't think he's important," Ino hurriedly added, smirking. "He clearly knows his worth now, but he sees his past as a time when he wasn't good enough yet."

"That makes sense. Naruto doesn't dwell on too much," Hinata added thoughtfully.

"Naruto praises himself all the time, but at the same time, he's his own hardest critic. That's why he works so hard," Sakura added, once again sounding thoughtful. Ino beamed at her.

"Finally caught on, eh Forehead Girl? Good thing I figured this all out before you did. You're supposed to be the smart one too," Ino said as she grinned widely. When Sakura didn't respond, Hinata realized that Sakura might actually being taking Ino's words to heart. Hinata inwardly groaned. All she needed now was for Sakura to start liking Naruto too! She wanted Naruto to be happy, not heart broken if his childhood crush finally returned his feelings after he'd found someone else. It would make poor Naruto-kun so confused and unhappy.

"Listen, I'll admit that I treated Naruto badly-"

"-_horribly_-"

"-okay, fine, _horribly_ when I was younger. I feel really bad about it, especially since Naruto has been such a close friend over the years. He's not like anyone else I know," Sakura murmured. Ino looked smug. Hinata couldn't help feel the jealousy twist in her stomach at Sakura's words. Even if Ino hadn't been the one to snatch Naruto's heart, he was still closer to Sakura than he would ever be to her...or rather...knowingly be close to her. She had a feeling losing her virginity to him didn't count as he hadn't really conceded to have sex with her. It made her feel rather small and worthless.

If Hinata spent too much more time around these two, she feared that she would end up snapping again with all these thoughts that whirled through her head.

"Naruto wouldn't want you to dwell on how he used to be treated. He'd just be happy that you accepted him for who he is now," Hinata said knowingly.

"Hinata, aren't you upset about all of this?" Sakura asked Hinata.

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked confused.

"You've liked Naruto for _ages_. Doesn't it bother you at all that he's marrying Ino?" Sakura asked, almost bitterly.

"Sakura, that's mean. Of course Hinata still has a crush on him, but who wouldn't? He's Naruto! Right Hinata?" Ino asked.

"Ummm..."

"Exactly! So, what I figured we could do is we should ask Hokage-sama what she knows about Naruto's past," Ino said. Hinata's head took a moment to adjust Ino's abrupt topic change from her apparent and obvious crush on Naruto back to talking about finding out about Naruto's past. Why did Ino not seem to mind that Hinata clearly had a crush on Naruto? It unnerved her. She kept waiting for the axe to drop and for Ino to declare her a horrible person because she had found out that Hinata had seduced Naruto.

"Isn't that what _I_ suggested?" Sakura asked incredulously. Apparently she had no problem keeping up with Ino's randomness. Hinata wondered if Ino was always this random.

"Yes, and I've decided it's a good idea. Let's go to The Hokage Tower and find out what we can!" Ino said excitedly. Sakura shrugged and sighed.

Hinata had a strong feeling that being around Ino and Sakura might cause her to have another mental breakdown.

However, she felt it would be worth it if she got to find out more about her beloved Naruto-kun. Er, Ino's Naruto-kun.

**Next Chapter: Cubs (aka Cups)**

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! - Jelp


	6. Chapter 5: Cubs aka Cups

This chapter's title came from the fact that I misspelled cups as "cubs" at least five times. It really has nothing to do with the story, but it has everything to do with making my fiancé crack up laughing at my strange spelling error.

**Desperation**

**Chapter 5: Cubs (aka Cups)**

"And what the hell are the three of you ladies doing in my office?" Tsunade asked. She looked at them a little blearily, her eyes slightly unfocused. An empty sake bottle and cup sat next to a stack of (completed) papers on her desk.

Hinata fidgeted awkwardly. She knew that Godaime-sama was sometimes prone to drinking, but it was rather awkward to see her blatantly doing so at work. Hinata hoped that Tsunade had finished the papers _before_ drinking the bottle of sake. Tsunade seemed a bit drunk.

"It's the evening. I didn't summon you," Tsunade said, as though she were trying to figure out what they were doing there, more than annoyed as Hinata had first thought due to her initial tone.

"We have questions," Sakura piped up.

"About Naruto," Ino clarified.

"Naruto? Is he okay?" Tsunade asked, looking at her sake bottle as though asking the question to the bottle.

"Yes, he's fine. We-"

"He didn't seem fine when he was in here about an hour ago," Tsunade said, looking frustrated as she interrupted Ino.

"He didn't seem fine?" Sakura asked concerned. Hinata couldn't help but feel distressed. She had seen Naruto that afternoon, and he'd looked rattled to see her.

"Was he sick?" Ino asked, also concerned.

"Doubtful. His coloring was normal and there were no signs of weariness; he's usually always very healthy. Though when I asked him what was wrong, he didn't say what was the matter. I sent him, Sasuke, Sai, and Yamato out on a mission, and Naruto seemed ruffled. Sasuke kept sending him worried glances. If Sasuke looks worried something is wrong. At first I thought the two might have been fighting. Those two do that from time to time. But, it seemed more like Sasuke was concerned about Naruto and that Naruto wasn't telling him why. Naruto doesn't do things like that. Something is wrong," Tsunade said, looking back at her empty sake bottle as though it held all her answers.

Hinata wasn't prone to drinking, so maybe people who did drink tended to think strange thoughts such as "my sake bottle knows the answers to all my problems." Or maybe Tsunade was just trying to focus her eyes on something, sorta like Hinata was trying to focus her attention elsewhere as she tried not to think that perhaps Naruto had been flustered because he had seen her after his talk with Sasuke.

"Sasuke was worried?" Hinata asked.

"Did that come from you?" Tsunade asked, as she looked up and looked curiously at Hinata.

"Yes," Hinata said as firmly as she could. She didn't want a guilty conscience breach like earlier where she had then practically broken down on Ino confessing her transgressions. Repeating a scene like that in the Hokage's office wouldn't have been good. She would play it cool and hope that Naruto hadn't said anything about her. Besides, why would he?

"You don't usually talk very much. And when you do talk it's kinda quiet so it's hard to figure out what it sounds like at normal volume. Sometimes I forget what your voice sounds like," Tsunade said thoughtfully.

_Harsh._ She wasn't _that_ quiet…was she?

"Aww, she's just so cute," Ino said, once again reaching out to pinch Hinata's cheek.

Her action was intercepted by Sakura.

"Stop doing that to her for crying out loud!" Sakura said, slapping Ino's hand away before she got a chance to pinch Hinata's cheek.

"But I'm sure Hinata doesn't mind it. She would have said something," Ino said defiantly. Sakura gave her a look that asked, "Are you sure about that?" Hinata decided that she would speak up.

"It is kind of w-weird," she confessed. Ino looked at her thoughtfully and smiled.

"But that's fine if I do something that's weird! You said so yourself that Naruto liked weird girls, and he likes me," Ino said brightly.

"You're all weird," Tsunade said as another sake bottle appeared from behind her desk. "Now, tell me what you ladies are doing in my office at quarter till nine. You had questions about Naruto? Does it pertain to why he was acting strangely earlier?"

"We didn't know anything about that. That does seem strange, and I'll have to ask him when he comes back," Ino said. "No, I'm a woman on a mission! I-"

"I didn't assign you any missions," Tsunade said frowning.

"Uh, no. I mean, as in, I'm a _woman_ on a _mission_," Ino said. Hinata didn't see that this explained anything as she said the exact same thing as before, but apparently Tsunade got it as she nodded. (Or maybe she really hadn't understood the difference but didn't feel like asking again, but Hinata wasn't going to ask Tsunade if she needed clarification.)

"We want to know about Naruto's past since he's been avoiding answering questions," Hinata said, feeling that someone ought to move this conversation along before they got side tracked yet again.

"I've known him for a long time now, and he really doesn't talk much about his childhood. He only talks about what his current missions are or what he wants to do in the future," Sakura clarified.

"Why haven't you just asked him to elaborate?" Tsunade said as she brought out three more sake cups. "You shouldn't be asking anyone other than Naruto about his past. He has been talked about behind his back too much in his life for me to just give you details like that." Tsunade didn't look at them as she poured out sake into the cups.

"You're right," Hinata said, fiddling with her fingers. Even though she had thought that herself, having Tsunade say it to them made Hinata feel guilty, as though she had somehow let Naruto down by not asking him. Even so, she respected her Hokage all the more for not sharing Naruto's personal life.

"Have a drink," Tsunade said as she gestured to the cups in front of her.

* * *

Two sake bottles later, Hinata watched as Ino and Sakura laughed at who only knew what. Hinata had finished one cup of sake and had been slowly sipping her second cup.

"Drink up! All our cubs are empty, but yours isstillabit full," Ino slurred her words together, indicating that Hinata ought to drink more. Sakura burst out laughing.

"Hahaha...you said _cubs_! You mean _cups_...our cups are full – I mean empty. Hahaha, Hinata feeds her cubs but we don't!" Sakura giggled out.

"You two don't handle sake well," Tsunade grumbled as she looked at Ino and Sakura forlornly. "Here I thought I'd finally get some new drinking buddies, but no. No one else wants to drink with me…I need new people to drink with," Tsunade said grumpily. Hinata thought Tsunade might be one of those who got angry or depressed instead of giggly when she drank. Watching the three of them drink, Hinata thought that Ino and Sakura acting insanely happy and giddy was better to what happened to Tsunade when she drank.

Hinata sat quietly, feeling awkward as she looked around at no one. She felt out of place, sitting in the Hokage's Office having a drink. It felt weird. This was the place where missions were assigned, lives were changed. It seemed strange that they were openly drinking there after they had asked personal questions about her beloved Naruto. Or maybe it was just that Hinata was the one out of place. Maybe she was making more of what was going on. Maybe having one cup of sake was not a good idea because she didn't drink and maybe _she_ was one of those who got depressed while drinking.

Another twenty minutes passed, and Hinata felt it was safe to say that she would be able to leave without Ino or Sakura noticing...or caring.

"He was onmy team fiiirst," Sakura said, pointing her finger at Ino, her body swaying slightly.

"He asked me to marry 'im. He likesme. I don't care whatchu say. You can't have 'em," Ino said, likewise pointing her finger back at Sakura. Hinata slowly stood up, and slowly made her way out of their line of view, feeling beyond awkward, but bowed to the Hokage and began to excuse herself. She was just at the door before being called.

"Hinata."

It was Tsunade that called her. While Hinata had thought she'd been drinking heavily, when Hinata looked up at her golden eyes, they looked much clearer than they had a minute ago.

"You like Naruto, don't you?" Tsunade asked as she walked up to Hinata at the door, a sway in her step. No, she _had _been drinking heavy. Tsunade just knew how to think clearly when she had to, even in a drunken state.

"Yes," Hinata whispered out quietly. Tsunade leaned close to Hinata, whispering in her ear even though the two other women in the room seemed less than likely to notice them.

"Find out why Naruto asked Ino to marry him, won't you? Something's wrong with this situation. I'm worried about him...and Ino too, but mostly Naruto. And I want to know why he wants to know who _you_'ve dated recently."

"_What?_ Tsunade-sama. I-"

"Zz..."

Hinata made a rather puzzled and frustrated expression as she realized Tsunade had actually fallen asleep standing up.

"Tsunade-sama? Tsunade-sama? Hokage-sama?" Hinata tried, wanting to know more about what Naruto had said, but Tsunade gave no response. "I guess I'll...I'll just go now," Hinata said, looking at Tsunade who's eyes were still open despite the snores coming from her mouth.

She looked really creepy.

Hinata slipped out the door and practically ran back to her home. Once she had returned to the safety of her own room, she sat on her bed and put her face in her hand.

That had been...strange.

Hinata shook her head, and took a moment to reassess everything that had happened, starting with the last event that had happened in the Hokage's office.

Tsunade-sama had asked Hinata – not Sakura or Ino – but _her_ to see if she could find out what was going on with Naruto. Perhaps Tsunade-sama had offered the girls sake in order to get their tongues loosened and spilling out secrets. It was a strategy that they were taught after all. When in disguise, when trying to get information out of someone, give them lots to drink because lies were harder to tell when drunk, and they often spoke more truthfully and without fear of retaliation because basic instincts to hide such information were impaired after becoming inebriated.

Still, why had Tsunade asked her to do it? And why, _why_ was Naruto asking Tsunade-sama if she knew whom she had been dating?

A strange flutter in Hinata's heart went off, before she realized that Naruto was probably wondering if Hinata had been cheating on someone. Maybe Naruto had planned to tell her non-existent boyfriend of her deeds.

"Ah. No. That doesn't make any sense," Hinata mumbled to herself. She flung her face into her pillow and cried out her frustration.

* * *

"Hinata."

"Yes please."

"Er...Hinata? Wake up!"

Hinata groaned slightly at the whispering voice telling her to wake up. She had been having a wonderful dream about Naruto coming into her room via her bedroom window. She didn't want to wake up now.

"Hinata, why are you so hard to wake up?"

Hinata's body froze, a sort of cold thrill rushing through her entire being.

That was Naruto's voice.

That was Naruto's voice in her room.

She didn't think she was still dreaming; it felt like she had woken up. Yet why would Naruto come through her window into her bedroom? The answer was simple. He wouldn't.

Even so, she couldn't help but lift her head up from the pillow, slowly turning her face to the side so she could see who was talking.

It was still dark out, probably the middle of the morning. Her head was pounding from the unfamiliar, even if small, amount of alcohol she had consumed. She was definitely not a heavy drinker. Even so, she could make out a very familiar silhouette in her room. Hinata's eyes widened and she gasped as she shot out of bed and scampered to the other end of the room.

"Whoa – whoa, sorry! I didn't mean to scare you. It's me, Naruto. Sorry to bother you now…but…Umm, uh...it's just," Naruto paused (though Hinata hadn't yet activated her byakugan to make sure it was really him) "I think we need to talk."

* * *

**Next Chapter: Secret Keepers**

Hope you liked this chapter! - Jelp


	7. Chapter 6: Secret Keepers

**Desperation**

**Chapter 6: Secret Keepers**

"I think we need to talk."

Hinata merely stared at Naruto as he stood in her bedroom. Her heart felt like it was slamming its rhythmic beat against her chest, and her throat felt like it had closed off, leaving her both speechless and shortly in need of air.

"Er. Yeah. Sorry. I probably should have waited until the morning, but I just got back from a mission late because...because I got sent home," Naruto said distractedly, rubbing the back of his head, looking down to the side both embarrassed and upset.

Hinata was finally able to draw in breath, her curiosity at his words allowing her to speak.

"Sent home?" Hinata asked, disbelieving. There was so much more that she would love to ask him, but for the time being, she congratulated herself at being able to speak at all. Even in the dim light she could see him blushing, his embarrassment also evident through his slightly bent shoulders and the way he didn't seem to want to look at her either.

"Asshole told Yamato-taichou I was having issues. The fucking bastard always has issues. Why wasn't he ever sent home?" Naruto hissed angrily. It was an anger that was bitter, but it wouldn't last long. It was an anger born partially of self-frustration, and it wouldn't be able to stand up against the fact that, as far as Hinata knew about Naruto, he did realize that it was Sasuke's way of "caring" by ratting him out. Everyone knew Sasuke had problems with showing certain emotions. It was a hearty attempt, at least in Hinata's opinion, to show concern about Naruto.

"I-issues?" Hinata asked again. Naruto sighed, looking frustrated before he paced around her room, finally sitting down on her bed before then jumping right out of it, turning to look at the bed almost as though it had burned him.

Yes, he did seem to be having issues.

"It's just...I mean..." Naruto put his hands in his hair and paced around the room some more, his eyes avoiding Hinata who stayed in her little corner. Part of her wished that Naruto would tell her what was going through his mind, wondering what damage she had done to her beloved, wondering how angry he was with her.

Wondering why when he was there in her room that she felt like she could forget how shy she was and jump him again.

Naruto finally stopped pacing and turned to look at her, his shoulders set back, his face determined.

"Two weeks ago..." Naruto began, and Hinata's breath left her again. Here it came. "I..." Naruto paused, looking at Hinata, giving her a glance over, his eyes moving up and down, and it was clear that he was assessing her very thoroughly. She felt more naked now than she had when she'd stripped for him, and she tightened her arms around herself subconsciously.

Hinata wondered how she looked to him. His blue eyes raked over her body, though she wished it was with lust and not with the strange concentrated expression that he wore now. He scratched the back of his head as though looking at her caused great confusion.

"Two weeks ago I had...I had this dream that couldn't have been a dream yet couldn't have been real either."

Hinata's heart skipped a beat. After all that, he still wasn't sure?

"When I woke up I thought maybe it had actually happened. I mean, there was evidence," Naruto said, his face turning bright red now, "but, I mean, that could have been...and you know..."

If Hinata hadn't been there, she'd have had no idea what Naruto was talking about. Clearly he was talking about waking up covered in the evidence of their lovemaking. She hadn't thought to clean up his cum or her own. Even so, she guessed he could have thought he'd had a wet dream instead.

"And then I thought it was a practical joke that Sasuke was playing but he doesn't play practical jokes. So I thought maybe he was just being an ass because he does that. But, he didn't seem to know what I was talking about, and he likes to take credit for his bastardly ways. Though personally I'm thankful that it wasn't him because that would have just been weird using a genjutsu like that and...yeah...ew...and then I got even more confused because he wasn't being a bastard, and I think he actually got worried about me. When he gets worried about me it makes me worry because he just doesn't worry, you know?"

"Uh..."

"And then I thought maybe Ino had asked Sakura-chan to do that to test my er...uh...faithfulness because well, yeah, and..."

"Uh...?"

"And you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" Naruto asked, looking at Hinata, his shoulders drooping slightly. He looked even more frustrated and confused. Naruto looked off to the side and sighed. "It was just too real. And if it was my first time, I just..." Hinata's breath caught. His first time? She'd been his first too?

"Naruto-kun, I-"

"I'm sorry Hinata. I didn't mean to barge in here on you so late at night talking about something you seem really clueless about. I guess it really was just one of those kinds of dreams which would explain the...umm...anyway. But then why have I been dreaming about you?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head.

Hinata felt her heart's rhythm speed up. Naruto looked so confused, so lost, that while she had not wanted him to remember in order for her to save face, she truly did want him to recall their experience because it had been wonderful to her, even if shell-shocking afterward. Plus, if it was his first time, he should remember that – right?

"Naruto-kun! I'm so s-sorry, it wasn't a d-dream. It was all r-real. I..."

Naruto tilted his head to the side and gave her a half smile.

"Aww, Hinata. You don't have to pretend to know what I'm talking about. You're very sweet, but I can tell now it was just a dream. You're way too shy and quiet!" Naruto said, as though this somehow made him feel better, as though this evidence was obvious now that he looked at it.

"No, I did, umm...do that to you."

"The dream?"

"Not a dream."

"Wait, this isn't a dream?"

"No, I mean, well, this is a dream, I mean it isn't a dream, but that-"

"What?"

"I mean-" Naruto gripped Hinata's shoulders and chuckled, effectively silencing all of Hinata's attempts to explain this sudden confusion.

"Hinata, trust me on this one. You're nothing like how you acted in the dreams I've had. But dreams aren't real," Naruto said. "Wow, I feel like such an idiot. Stupid dreams. I'll let Sasuke-bastard, Yamato-taichou and Tsunade-baa-chan all know I'm okay. And I have to tell Ino too. Aww, man. She's gonna freak if I tell her about this whole thing! I'll give her a revised version. Just – just don't tell anyone I came here, okay? Especially not Ino."

"Naruto-"

"Please?"

Hinata fidgeted with her fingers, looking at Naruto in disbelief.

"O-okay." With Naruto grinning winningly at her answer, Hinata felt like a complete and utter fake. She should tell him. Make him understand. Let him know that she knew exactly what kind of dream he was talking about because it had all been real: not a dream at all.

"You're awesome Hinata! Thanks. Sorry for waking you up and then confusing you too. I should let you sleep. Ja!" Naruto said.

"Wait–"

But Naruto was already gone.

Hinata stared out of her window and put her hands over her heart. This was what she had said she wanted: for him to think it had all been a dream, and that she would help make Ino and Naruto happy together.

Yet why did getting what she had hoped for hurt so much more, knowing she was lying to him?

There was no way that Hinata was going to be able to get to sleep after seeing Naruto in her bedroom, nor after the talk that they had had. She wouldn't be able to sleep feeling like a fake with the horrible weight of Naruto thinking his first time – _their_ – first time hadn't been real.

In fact, a part of her wanted to follow after Naruto, telling him that he was mistaken, that they'd had sex, great sex, and that he ought to dump Ino for her. At least, she thought it had been great sex. That had to count for something, right? Of course, she doubted that he would dump Ino for her because of great sex, but it helped make her feel slightly more prone to the idea of confessing.

Besides, Hinata was thoroughly sick and tired of all the lies that she had been telling, or more like, the secrets that she had been keeping. Either way what was bottled up inside her was beginning to make her feel almost physically ill. Deciding that since she wasn't going to be able to get to sleep anyway, and since Naruto had clearly just been awake, Hinata quickly got dressed and decided to head to Naruto's apartment and blurt everything out in a rush like she had with Ino.

"I can do this. I can," Hinata murmured to herself, stealing away every ounce of courage that she had in her body, and forcing it to stay with her as she went after Naruto in order to tell him the truth.

The moon only gave off a faint light in the sky as the clouds dimmed the moonlight. She found her way to Naruto's apartment, once again deciding to enter through the back balcony.

Upon arriving on the outside balcony she had a flashback to two weeks previous when she had snuck in to seduce him. The feeling was quite different now than it had been then. Back then, she'd felt desperate, she'd felt lost, and now, now she just felt scared to death. He would reject her – hate her once he found out.

She was sure of it, but what else could she do?

Hinata's heart saddened at the thought, and her sadness only increased when she remembered watching Naruto looking at the ring on his hand. She wondered if he'd had it on earlier – she hadn't thought to check. Come to think of it, she hadn't recalled seeing Ino wearing a ring. Had Naruto gotten her one? Or did that mean that Ino had proposed to Naruto and he still needed to get Ino a ring?

The pathetic attempt to gather all her courage seemed to drain from her at these thoughts, and Hinata could merely stand on Naruto's balcony, standing outside the apartment of the man that she loved, looking in through the small windows on the door.

Hinata swallowed, looking at the door. She couldn't go in. She probably should go in and confess, but her feet wouldn't move. Hinata could always cherish the memory, and hope that Naruto cherished the supposed dream he'd had.

It was probably better that he didn't know anyway. He wouldn't have to feel bad about cheating on Ino when he hadn't really meant to do so.

Yes, that was it. She shouldn't say anything. She should just leave now. What had she been thinking?

Hinata never seemed to think clearly when Naruto was around.

Even so, Hinata couldn't seem to move either way. She couldn't enter his apartment to tell him the truth, and she couldn't leave his small balcony, decorated serenely with potted plants.

"Oh!" Hinata gasped quietly, as she saw a large, white lily fully blossomed in the dead of night. She realized it must have been another moon lily, a companion to the one that Naruto had picked for Ino. Hinata couldn't help but smile, looking at the large, creamy-colored petals. She gently reached her hand out to stroke the closest petal, feeling the petal's texture, which felt more like a leaf than a petal, though still somehow as soft.

"Isn't it pretty?"

Hinata gasped and turned, finding Naruto behind her. It was unlike her to be so unaware of her surroundings, but what shocked her even more was that Naruto didn't seem at all surprised to see her there.

"I'm having another one of those dreams, aren't I?" Naruto asked, smiling slightly. "The first one was the best, but last night's was pretty hot too. I like these dreams."

Hinata merely stared dumbfounded, as her brain slowly tried to process what Naruto had meant about having a hot dream last night too. As Naruto stalked toward her, his hand reaching out, gently stroking the side of her face, all thoughts left her mind, though the last fleeting thought was that she was grateful that he thought their only time together had been better than the dream he'd had last night.

"Naruto," Hinata breathed, but was unable to say or do anything else as Naruto's lips pressed against hers, his arms coming around her, picking her up, and taking her into his apartment without her having any say in the matter.

**Next Chapter: The Line Between Dreams and Reality**

* * *

For those of you who didn't quite get it, Naruto got confused about their first time since he kept having sex dreams about Hinata. :) Hope you enjoyed this chapter! - Jelp


	8. Chapter 7: Between Dreams and Reality

**Desperation**

**Chapter 7: The Line Between Dreams and Reality**

All Hinata could think was that she was the one who was dreaming. Certainly Naruto wasn't picking her up and taking her into his apartment like all of those corny stories she heard where the man swept the woman off her feet and into the bedroom.

Naruto laid her onto the bed and grinned down at her. The lustful look she had hoped for when he'd been to her bedroom to talk with her had finally appeared on his face.

Hinata blushed, and crossed her arms over her chest, feeling utterly flustered at the way he undressed her with his eyes.

"What's the matter? You're all shy again," Naruto said, his movements stilling.

"Uh, no I'm not," Hinata said, her hands loosening slightly as she uncrossed herself and unzipped her shirt. Naruto blinked once, but didn't seem at all deterred as he helped her remove the jacket that she wore. His hands slipped under her shirt, sliding it over her head, and before Hinata could do it herself, he had unhooked her bra as well.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata purred as his mouth suddenly began to suck on her neck. She couldn't help the little moan that escaped her as his clothed top pressed against her bare chest.

"You're shaking," Naruto whispered against her neck.

Ah, yes, so she was.

Well, what did he expect when she wasn't half out of her mind this time, and her conscience wouldn't leave her alone like it had the last time?

This time felt different.

This time she wasn't oh so desperate. This time she knew that he and Ino were an item.

"I...we should…stop," Hinata squeaked out, tears prickling her eyes. "You're with Ino..." Hinata said sadly.

"Yeah, but when you dream the person you dream about isn't really that person. So, you might be Ino or Sakura...or maybe Hinata. Some dreams come true, you know?"

Um, no she didn't know.

"What?"

"I read it in a book."

"What?"

"Well, Sai actually read it to me from a book when I was trying to talk to someone about my dreams and what not. He was one of the ones who was worried about me too. He was trying to give me the break down on why I might be dreaming about you. The book said something about even when you dream about certain people they may actually represent another person. But...let's not talk now, right?"

Naruto truly didn't seem like he wanted to talk any more as his fingers gently trailed along her bare sides, making little shivers spread throughout her body at the light touch.

"Ano-sa-"

But Naruto was surprisingly good with his mouth, and his warm lips once again pressed against her neck, making her not want to argue.

Naruto's mouth didn't leave her body as his hands fumbled with her pants, sliding them slowly down her legs, his hands trailing down her hips to her thighs. His mouth moved from her neck to her breasts as his hands slid down lower, pulling her pants off of her body from her thighs to just below her knees. His hands massaged her legs while his mouth kissed and massaged her breasts, his tongue lavishing attention onto her nipples.

"Ah!" Hinata gasped in pleasure as his mouth and hands worked magic on her body. Idly she realized that she should return the attention he was giving to her, but her body felt weak and shaky. Even so, she put her hands into his hair, stroking first just the top of his head with her blunt nails before running her nails down the back of his neck. She made nonsensical circle patterns on his back, and he moaned at the sensation, causing another gasp to leave her mouth at the feeling the vibration caused her breast to feel.

After a few lovely moments filled with Naruto's mouth on her breast, his hands began to travel lower once again, his mouth trailing a line of kisses down her stomach to her now exposed lower area. While his mouth trailed downward, his hands kept massaging her legs to her ankles, and finally just pulled the pants straight off of her. Hinata gasped again, this time in slight shock as he stood up from the bed for just half a second to toss her discarded pants to the floor. The cold feeling of his body leaving hers, his warm mouth and hot hands absent on her skin made Hinata quickly cross her arms over her body, feeling more exposed with the gap between them.

Her gasp brought his eyes to focus on her face questioningly, and Hinata, fearful that he would stop if he thought something was wrong, sat up and reached out her hands and gently placed them on his shoulders.

"Cold," Hinata murmured as she gripped his shoulders, lying back down as she pulled his body warmth back on top of hers. His clothes pressed softly against her naked body, and she sighed contently at the feeling of his warmth spreading through her.

"Ano, Hinata – I need to be naked," Naruto practically pouted, and Hinata almost giggled at the pleading tone of his voice. She would have giggled if the image of him naked hadn't caught the giggle in her throat. Gulping, Hinata moved her hands from where she had unconsciously wound them around his neck to below his shirt, being just as slow as he had as she let her fingers trail over his sides and along his arms as she took off his top. His fingers gripped the edges of his own shirt, and he tugged it out of her hands as he sat up, flinging his shirt to the side before quickly standing up, pulled off his pants, and practically jumped back on the bed.

He grinned at her as he straddled her legs between his thighs, his hands propped on either side of her shoulders. His face was close to hers, but for once, with his eyes so close, so blue, staring so intently at her, she couldn't concentrate on his handsome face. Instead, her whole body seemed to be concentrating on how Naruto's cock pressed firmly against her clit. The sensation of that velvety skin stretched over his hardened length touching her there made it feel like her clit was pulsating. She could feel herself tightening, and a warm wetness gathered between her legs just by the sensation of Naruto pressing close to her.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata breathed out as she closed her eyes and lifted her hips off the bed to rub against him.

"Hinata...you look so...cute, lying there with a blush on your face and your eyes closed," Naruto murmured to her. Hinata didn't want to look cute. She wanted to look sexy. Wanted to look exotic. Wanted to look whatever she was supposed to look to make sure that Naruto was sliding inside her again.

"Nnn," Hinata moaned as Naruto trust his hips against hers, pushing down as she pushed up creating greater pressure. Hinata could both hear and feel Naruto chuckle as he lowered his chest to press against hers, the low rumble of laughter warming her. Her eyes shot up as his lips found hers, and she let her eyes flutter close again as his lips pressed softly against her mouth.

It was Naruto's turn to moan, his mouth opening slightly against her lips as Hinata thrust upward a little harder than she had before. But this wasn't like the little sensual moans from before. It was more needy, more feral and Hinata gasped as she felt his body shifting, spreading her legs wider as he slid his length lower so that the head of his cock pressed against her opening. Her body tightened in anticipation as he pressed against her, slowly sliding along the slickness her body had provided her with. Naruto made little gasping noises as he slid all the way into her. He gave her little time to adjust to the hardness settled inside of her before he began to pull out and practically slam back into her.

"A-ah-a!" Hinata gasped in pleasure as she felt Naruto moving in and out of her, thrusting eagerly inside of her body. Her eyes fluttered open as she watched him now, his eyes now closed as he pressed his lips together in ecstatic concentration. Little grunts escaped him every now and then, and Hinata couldn't help but feel drawn into his body, his face, his entire being.

She couldn't believe that this was happening – _again_! He'd started it this time, and that meant a great deal to her, even if it was under misconceptions again. It was hard to think of this as settling for a place in his supposed dreams if it felt as good and wonderful as this did.

"I love you," she murmured, but at that point, Naruto couldn't have heard her as he grunted out a long moan, his body tightening inside of hers as he thrust harshly into her. Hinata gasped as she felt new wetness add to her own, and she watched in fascination at the look on his face as he rode his orgasm out inside of her. The erratic bucking of his hips as he rode his orgasm made her own body tighten as she too began to ride the wonderful waves of her own orgasm.

Naruto all but collapsed on top of her. His lower half rested flush against her, his penis still inside of her, while he propped his upper body weight up with his arms.

"Heh," he panted contently as he slid out of her at last. He rolled to the side of his bed and sighed happily, another show of contentment.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered as she turned her body to look over at Naruto.

"Hmm?" he asked sleepily.

"This wasn't a dream. You'll remember this in the morning, right?" Hinata asked tentatively, feeling the momentary euphoria from her orgasm leave her as that cold, harsh weight of reality set back in.

"I'll remember it in the morning. How could I not? But this is a dream. It can only be a dream," Naruto murmured.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered. "Naruto-kun?" she whispered again. He didn't answer. Hinata propped herself up on one arm and covered her chest with the other arm as she returned to being modest again. She watched as what little moonlight came through his bedroom window play across his handsome features. She saw the slow rise and fall of his chest, and like last time, he was sound asleep within a minute of their lovemaking.

Hinata frowned, looking at him, wondering what happened to his legendary stamina once he hit the sheets, wondering why he wouldn't just wake up.

Hinata laid her back down against the bed, crossing both arms over her naked chest as she realized that they were lying on the sheet so she couldn't use that to cover her chest.

She wasn't sure how long she lay there in bed with him, but she didn't fall asleep as she lay there, listening to his slow, even breathing. From Naruto's window she could watch the sunrise, and she began to wonder if she should get going before he woke up.

What should she do?

What would happen if she stayed? What would Naruto think if he woke up lying next to her?

What would happen if she left? Would she ever be able to let Naruto know the truth?

What to do? Her eyes began to feel suddenly heavy as she drifted off to sleep.

The next thing Hinata remembered, she was waking up, the sheets wrapped around her awkwardly.

"Naruto?" Hinata asked groggily, looking around her. She was back in her own room, the sun up. "A dream?" Hinata all but groaned.

But then she saw her clothes lying on her floor, neatly folded in a pile.

She had gone to bed with her clothes on.

She was naked, and her clothes were neatly folded in a pile. She _never_ folded her clothes after she wore them; she always just threw them in the hamper.

Did that mean – did that mean what she think it did?

"This can't be good."

**Next Chapter: Uh-Oh**

* * *

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you thought! - Jelp


	9. Chapter 8: Uh Oh

**Desperation**

**Chapter 8: Uh-Oh**

The news the following day that Naruto had broken off his engagement with Ino took everyone by surprise: especially Ino. When Hinata finally heard the news, she felt beyond guilty.

Upon waking up in her own bed, Hinata had decided to fall asleep again, hoping that perhaps it had all been a very pleasant, though unexpected dream. She hadn't really had sex with Naruto again, and she hadn't been returned to her own home clearly via Naruto's doing because nothing had happened. Right? Or had it?

When Hinata woke up the second time and the situation was exactly the same as before, Hinata realized with another on coming panic attack that it truly had happened, and that it wasn't a dream, though it felt farm from reality. She idly wondered if that was how Naruto had felt the first time: if he had tried to write off their encounter as a dream because it just seemed too improbable.

Of course, waking up for the second time, her body sore (why there was still soreness after her second time, she didn't quite understand) in places that she certainly didn't work out on a regular basis helped prove just how real her night with him had been. She hadn't (and apparently nor had he) cleaned the stickiness between her legs, and it was obvious with the way that her clothes were folded (creased in half instead of on the seam as she did) that someone else had folded her clothing.

Hinata had spent the morning in the shower feeling numb and wondering what she was going to do the next time that she ran into Naruto because this time, beyond a doubt, he had to know.

She took much more time than normal preparing to go down to breakfast, and she was grateful that she didn't have any missions to go on for the day. Of course, that didn't mean that none wouldn't come in, but for the time, she took her time as leisurely as she felt like in her somewhat state of shock that Naruto knew that they had had sex.

The news that she had heard that morning at her own breakfast table just confirmed that he knew even more.

"Ino?" Hinata gasped, surprised to see Ino waiting for her at the breakfast table. Her father stood by the side, looking at Ino as though not quite sure what to make of her.

Ino's eyes were puffy and red, and the make-up that she wore looked smeared on her face. She was sitting at the far end of the table, and Hinata's father stood next to her, almost like some sort of guard.

Hinata knew better. Her father rarely allowed un-announced guests to come over, and he stood there not as a protector, but as a predator, ready to throw Ino out of his house _personally_. Still, Hinata wondered what Ino could possibly have said to her father to let her come in not only un-announced but before breakfast.

"What happened?" Ino asked, her voice wavering slightly as she looked at Hinata. Hinata stood frozen, looking between Ino and her father who was standing by her. What happened? What happened last night? Ino was asking what had happened last night.

No. No. No, no, _no_. This was not good. If Ino knew something...if Ino started talking about what had happened between her and Naruto with her _father_ standing right there, then not only was Hinata in deep trouble but Naruto would be too. Hinata felt her insides freeze, and she couldn't believe it when her voice came out steady.

"What?" Hinata asked, trying and actually succeeding for once at feigning ignorance.

"This morning, Naruto came by and said that he had to break off our e-engagement. He said that he'd done something s-stupid and that he'd somehow done something really a-awful to you, and it affected our relationship but he didn't say what," Ino said, sniffing here and there as she explained herself. It felt strange for Hinata to see Ino so sad when just the night before they had gone over to Tsunade's looking for information on Naruto. What a difference!

"Naturally when I hear that someone claims that they know someone who did something "really awful" to my daughter, I would like to know what, especially since it seems that it has made Yamanaka-san here very upset," Hiashi said.

Hinata swallowed. So that was why her father had allowed Ino to come in. Ino must have explained that being there had something to do with _her_.

"Awful? Naruto-kun has never been awful to me. He's always v-very sweet and kind," Hinata said slowly. 'He's also gentle,' she added mentally, along with a few other thoughts. Hinata's heart raced. Naruto thought he'd done something awful to her? Did he not realize that she was the one that had gone after him? Did he think it was the other way around? Done something awful _to_ her...did he think that he had _raped_ her?

Hinata had to put her hand to her mouth as a slightly hysterical giggle wanted to escape from her at the thought that he might think he'd forced her. It was far from the truth.

Hinata took a deep breath. She had to be calm. Had to stay cool.

Her entire body shook, and she didn't want yet another panic attack to make her lose it. It would not do anyone any good if she lost her control in front of Ino and especially not her father. She truly feared what her father might do if he found out about what she and Naruto had done the night before.

"Have you thought about talking to Sasuke-kun? This all seems a bit strange. No one has done anything awful to me. Maybe you should ask Sasuke if he played a practical joke on Naruto using a genjutsu, and Naruto thought he did something he didn't really do," Hinata said, thinking back to Naruto's own words when talking about how he had thought having sex with Hinata the first time had all been a joke.

_"And then I thought it was a practical joke that Sasuke was playing but he doesn't play practical jokes. So I thought maybe he was just being an ass because he does that. But, he didn't seem to know what I was talking about, and he likes to take credit for his bastardly ways."_

"Sasuke-kun doesn't play practical jokes," Ino said firmly.

"But Naruto-kun even mentioned to me that he thought that Sasuke-kun had played a practical joke on him involving a genjutsu to do with me," Hinata said, her voice firm. It was the truth after all. It just wasn't in the right context. Hinata couldn't believe how sure of herself that she sounded.

Of course, there was the fact that her mind was clearly still numb with shock.

And if she were honest with herself, she was unexpectedly ecstatic. Naruto had broken up with Ino! She wondered if her own excitement allowed her to do things she normally wouldn't do.

She still couldn't believe that Naruto had broken up with Ino. Naruto was no longer with Ino, so was there a chance, considering what had happened between the two of them, that she could actually end up with Naruto?

But she couldn't show that excitement. Not yet. Ino was there, in tears over the broken engagement. Hinata knew for a fact now that Ino had – and clearly still – cared about Naruto. She felt slightly guilty now, seeing how upset Ino was. She didn't understand how the two of them had ended up getting engaged so fast, but clearly something had made them do it, something that had made them happy.

The excitement that she initially had began to extinguish, and she wished that she would stop thinking things out. It would make her nervous and unhappy to think that she had made not only Ino, but possibly Naruto upset with what she had done.

She didn't want that. Hinata sighed, deciding she ought to say the right thing, even if it meant Naruto would end up with Ino instead of her. She kept reminding herself that she wanted him happy.

"Talk to him. This seems very strange. Naruto has _never_ done anything awful to me," Hinata said, and she smiled a little.

Ino looked at her rather confused. Hinata knew she would be confused if she and Ino switched places. Hinata could practically read the question in Ino's mind. Why would Naruto tell Ino that he'd hurt Hinata if that wasn't so?

"I think it is time for you to go Yamanaka-san," Hyuuga Hiashi said very quietly but coolly to Ino. She looked up at him, swallowed, and nodded. "I would see you out, but I need a private word with my daughter," Hiashi said, his eyes trained on Hinata the entire time he spoke. Hinata's body tensed at her father's words.

"Bye Hinata. I hope you're right and nothing bad has happened," Ino said as she gave Hinata a wave, wiping at her eyes before leaving.

Hinata didn't have time to think over Ino's departure as her father stood staring down at her. Her body trembled, and she had a feeling that he _knew_.

"He's never done anything awful to you," Hiashi's voice sounded cold, and slightly distant as he repeated Hinata's earlier words. "Imagine my surprise this morning when your Aunt Hikaru came to me, saying there was a sobbing young woman at our door. She said that young Yamanaka was distraught, saying that Naruto had broken off their engagement because he thought that he had done something awful involving you."

Hinata remained quiet.

"When I think of a couple breaking up, and especially when I think of a man breaking up with his fiancé due to doing something 'awful to' or perhaps _with_ another female I think of infidelity. Let me just say that _if_ Naruto has never done anything 'awful' to you, that if he has done something, _anything_ at all to you that only a man who is married to his wife should do, then hopefully he broke off his engagement with Yamanaka-san because he intended to get re-engaged to you. Do I make myself clear, Hinata, for Naruto's sake?"

"Yes, sir. But Naruto-kun has never attempted to approach me in that way," Hinata said, while adding in her mind, at least not when I hadn't started it first.

Her father seemed taken aback by her answer, as though he had been certain he had figured out what had happened. But Hinata's steadfast resolve clearly threw him off guard, even if he had figured it out.

"Good," Hiashi said, not bothering to say any more as he exited the room. Hinata swallowed and dashed back up to her room, barely managing to rush through it to the other side to her bathroom where she promptly threw up.

She couldn't believe that she had just lied not only to Ino but to her _father_ as well.

The lengths she would go to in order to protect Naruto! Hinata stood up, trying to collect her thoughts, her body still shaking. Even though she couldn't help but feel proud with herself at having been able to lie to her father (she never thought she'd be proud of herself for being able to lie!) she was grateful that she had managed to protect Naruto. Her father would hunt Naruto down if he ever found out that he had even _touched_ her any more than two shinobi ought to.

When Hinata had finally calmed down somewhat she couldn't help but wonder as to what might happen now that Naruto had broken up with Ino. She still had never found out why they had decided to get married in the first place, but she hoped that Ino would be unsuccessful in getting Naruto to re-ask her to marry him.

She selfishly hoped so very hard.

* * *

Six weeks.

It had been _six weeks_ since Hinata had seen Naruto. She hadn't seen Ino at all either, but that bothered her a lot less, even though she wanted to ask Ino what had happened. Still, Hinata heard the constant gossip about Naruto and Ino's sudden engagement and then their sudden break-up, so she knew that she would know if they had gotten back together. She was glad that they were still broken up, but it made her feel guilty to feel happy at the problems that she had caused.

After a few weeks had gone by since the last time Hinata had seen Naruto, the gossip died down, and Hinata had a feeling that Ino and Naruto getting together as a couple again just wasn't going to happen. However, she hadn't been able to find Naruto to find out what he thought of her, and what he though about what had happened.

She had missions outside of Konoha that left her unable to seek Naruto out. And she had been having bad luck. When she was at home, Naruto had been out on long-term missions, and she had heard that when he was home, she was out on missions.

While Hinata desperately wanted to see Naruto again, as time went on, she actually began to fear their encounter more and more.

First, if he hadn't sought her ought the next day after their second time having sex, she knew that it was likely that he felt guilty for one reason or another.

Second...the second reason was slowly starting to drive Hinata insane; something that she didn't want to believe was real. Something that didn't make sense. Something that couldn't be real. It just wasn't possible. It just wasn't possible that she was _pregnant_.

There were things in life that Hinata didn't really think happened; this was one of them.

Hinata never thought that a girl got pregnant the same night as losing her virginity. It was something that she'd heard about in books and stories but believed rarely, if ever, happened in real life, and especially not to people that she knew. Not to her.

The possibility of being pregnant just didn't seem practical to Hinata. It just wasn't possible. Yes she'd had...this was hard for her to think about sometimes..._sex_...with Naruto: twice. But it just didn't seem plausible that she could have gotten pregnant from just the first time. So maybe it had been the second time?

Sadly, research said a lot against her 'not possible theory,' especially since she had missed two of her periods in a row.

Hinata finally realized, as she looked through all the medical books that she had gotten from the Konoha shinobi library, that teen pregnancy was as high as it was for a lot of reasons (even though she wasn't a teen, she was young enough that a lot of the information still applied to her).

First, naturally, was the un-protected part.

Yes, she hadn't thought about the precautions when she had gone after Naruto. Then again, she hadn't really been thinking much at all. That was something that she should have thought about. Unprotected sex naturally left openings for pregnancies. She knew that.

What she hadn't known before doing this research was that some women tended to be more fertile than others. In Hinata's research she learned about something called the seven to ten ratio. Women whose waist measurement was seven-tenths the size of their hips were considered to be extremely fertile. The book Hinata read explained that these women at times may not be "pretty" in face, but as long as their bodies were close to that ratio, men tended to go after them on a subconscious desire to reproduce with the best possible mate. At least Hinata now knew why some not so pretty girls had lots of guys going after them.

Hinata had taken her own measurements and found that she was a .71, almost a perfect seven to ten ratio. This evidence made Hinata admit that she was more likely to be fertile than other women. She was active, as a shinobi, and kept herself healthy and had no known medical problems, which were others factors in adding to the likelihood of getting pregnant.

Then there came Naruto. He was in his early twenties, and it seemed that he was very healthy and probably had a (Hinata blushed) fairly high sperm count due to his age and the level of his physical activity. There was also the foot note in the book that said that men who were not sexually active as often tended to have an initially high sperm count due to the three month build-up factor of the life of one sperm, whatever that meant. (Some of the medical knowledge went over Hinata's head, but she wasn't about to ask Sakura or anyone else to explain it to her.)

While Hinata wasn't sure that Naruto didn't jerk himself off (the thought made her blush, encouraged by, not despite of, her experience with him), for some reason, she just saw Naruto as the kind that was more hyper because he didn't jerk himself off and was naturally sexually frustrated. Of course, she could be wrong.

Hinata continued to try and find some medical evidence that she wasn't pregnant, but instead she found out more that made her think she might be pregnant. She went on to read about how there tended to be a total of four days during the woman's cycle that a woman could get pregnant. Four days out of a twenty-eight cycle. That was a one to seven chance of randomly having sex on one of the days when her egg was in range of getting impregnated. When Hinata did her calculations, she'd lost her virginity on the second day of the release of her egg, leaving that day as well as two more days for Naruto's sperm to impregnate her egg.

All of these factors worked against Hinata's initial understanding that it was hard to get a woman pregnant. In fact, the only thing that seemed to be "against" her, was their, umm, (Hinata blushed as she remembered it) position. If she had laid on her back as Naruto entered her (Hinata blushed even more) would have made it easier for the sperm to enter her and find its "target." As it was, their first time she had been on top.

All this reading made Hinata feel very nervous about her state of being. If what she read was true, then all those stories and books out there that a couple having sex for the first time and getting pregnant on the first go didn't seem so far fetched.

There was also the fact that about a week ago she'd started getting very, very nauseous. If she had truly gotten pregnant after her first time with Naruto, morning sickness set in after six weeks. She had started getting sick after seven weeks if she were pregnant, which meant that this week she was about eight weeks along.

Except, except she couldn't be pregnant! This was _her_.

It couldn't be real. She wasn't sure what she would do if she were truly pregnant. Naruto had had plans to marry Ino, and Hinata couldn't do that to Ino. She had messed up once, but she didn't want to hurt Ino even though they weren't engaged anymore. Ino would be able to figure out the math of when she got pregnant, and Ino would know that they'd had sex after the engagement announcement. Ino would also know that Hinata had been truthful to her about not knowing what Naruto had done that was so 'awful' if In figured out that Naruto was the father.

Then there was the biggest thing that Hinata worried about. The only other person besides herself who knew who the father was, was Naruto himself. Naruto would know he was the father. Then what? What would Naruto do then? What would her father do to Naruto? This was all assuming that she was pregnant, which Hinata was still having a hard time believing.

Unfortunately the pregnancy test that Hinata had taken had told her that she was pregnant. Three more tests later Hinata started to think that she wanted a second opinion, despite all four of those little sticks telling her other wise.

Unable to face Sakura, and possibly having to tell her that she was pregnant with her teammate's baby, (Sakura was sure to tell Naruto), and not having the courage to look Tsunade in the eye to admit what type of girl that she was, Hinata headed to the only other female that she could truly trust and had trusted for years.

Hinata sought out Kurenai, hoping her jounin teacher might be able to help her. Kurenai had had a baby. Surely she would know if Hinata were pregnant, right?

The thought that she could activate her byakugan and see whether or not a new chakra signature had formed in her stomach crossed her mind, but one, if the child was only a few weeks in the development stage, she might not be strong enough to sense the chakra (Neji would be able to see it, but there was no way Hinata would ask him). And two, Hinata feared that she might actually be able to see something if she looked hard enough. She didn't think she could handle it if she found out that she was with child.

She arrived at Kurenai's doorstep terrified. Not sure if she would be able to tell Kurenai in words what was going on, instead, she took out what she had brought, hidden safely from view in her pocket. She pulled out yet another pregnancy test. As she held it in her hand reality started to crash down on her. Kurenai opened the door, looking very confused to see Hinata there. She held her son close to her chest, his chubby little hand waving at Hinata happily.

"Hinata," Kurenai said in surprise. She looked at Hinata's face, and then down to the pregnancy test that Hinata held in her hand. As Hinata had thought, her voice didn't work, and she hoped Kurenai understood the implications. "Oh my," Kurenai said, gasping a little bit.

"Uh-oh!" the toddler said, cooing after his mother's shocked tone. Kurenai gave a short laugh that was humorless.

"Uh-oh indeed."

**Next Chapter: Being Pregnant**

* * *

A few people on fanfiction dot net guessed that Hinata was probably going to get pregnant, and if you've seen the warnings on adult fanfiction dot net you would know that this story does have pregnancy in it. Hope you liked the chapter! - Jelp


	10. Chapter 9: Being Pregnant

**Desperation**

**Chapter 9: Being Pregnant**

As Hinata sat in Kurenai's bathroom, watching as Kurenai cradled her son, Yasuji, to her chest, Hinata wondered what type of mother she would be.

"Hinata, how did this happen?" Kurenai asked, looking at the pregnancy test that she just taken that had tested positive, along with the four other pregnancy tests that she had previously taken. They sat all lined up on top of their respective wrappers to make sure that their results definitely matched up to the positive markings. Hinata sat on the closed toilet seat while Kurenai looked at each stick and package to triple check that there were no errors in what they had read. Little Yasuji stuck out his hand to try and grab one of the little sticks, but was effectively intercepted by his mother.

"How did this happen?" Kurenai repeated when Hinata didn't answer.

While it might seem quite obvious how Hinata had gotten pregnant – physically speaking – Hinata knew that that wasn't what her sensei was truly asking.

"I went after him," Hinata said in a quiet voice. Kurenai put her hand to her head.

"Naruto," Kurenai said shaking her head, and Hinata nodded. There was no other "him" that Hinata would go after. "That's why he broke off the engagement with Ino so suddenly," she added thoughtfully. "Does he know about this?"

Hinata shook her head frantically.

"No…no…you see…I…"

"You need to tell him," Kurenai said, looking at her sharply. "You-" but her comment was interrupted by a knock on the front door.

"I'll be right back," Kurenai said as she exited the bathroom, Yasuji waving at Hinata as he exited. Through the open bathroom door, Hinata could hear Kurenai and her guest speaking.

"Everything okay Kurenai-san?" Shikamaru's distinctive voice asked worriedly.

"Yes," Kurenai said, warmth in her voice. "Thank you for coming so quickly when I called. I just need some time to speak with Hinata alone without Yasuji here while we speak. It would be a big help if you could take him for a couple hours."

Kurenai and Shikamaru talked a little more, but Hinata couldn't hear the rest of what they said as their voices lowered. She got the feeling Kurenai might have been talking about her, and she felt her cheeks flush slightly, wondering what she was saying.

"Of course. Come on little man," Shikamaru said affectionately, and Hinata could picture the smile on Shikamaru's face as he picked up Yasuji. Hinata wondered if Naruto would get so excited about having a child. She knew that he was good with people in general, but still…

When Kurenai came back into the bathroom she looked at Hinata and shook her head.

"I really don't even know where to begin. First of all, I can't believe that _you_ of all people would forget to be properly prepared to prevent pregnancy. Second of all, I honestly can't believe that you were able to have sex with Naruto without passing out from excitement," Kurenai said bluntly and harshly.

"Well...ano-sa..."

"Why don't we go into the living room and sit down there instead of staring at the pregnancy tests in here? Then you can start at the beginning and explain to me everything that happened."

A pot of tea later, Hinata had finished explaining her story to Kurenai. For her part, Kurenai stared at Hinata in disbelief.

"In other words you wrecked Ino and Naruto's engagement," Kurenai said sharply. It was something that Hinata herself had thought about, but hearing Kurenai saying it in such a tone, hearing her say it like that made Hinata feel even worse.

She hadn't truly wanted to hurt Naruto. She hadn't.

"But clearly something wasn't right between him and Ino if he was so willing," Kurenai said thoughtfully. "At first, I thought it was strange when the two of them got together. However, I asked Shikamaru about it. He said that he was shocked at first, but the way that Ino was going on about Naruto, he said that she really seemed to like Naruto a lot. Apparently, the more she talked about getting married to him, the happier she became. Shikamaru even said that now she's been devastated that Naruto broke off the engagement, and that she hasn't been quite the same since."

If Hinata felt horrible before she felt even worse now. It was one thing to hear she had done something to hurt Naruto, but the more she heard about how she had hurt Ino, the worse that she felt. She'd seen how devastated Ino had been, but for some reason, she had hoped she would have gotten over it by now. Obviously she had been wrong.

"Now I don't know too much about Ino from first hand experience, but I know that Asuma used to always say that she was a very sweet girl that hid behind a more upfront personality in order to protect herself from being hurt by others."

Hinata swallowed, looking down at her hands. Now that she thought about it, Kurenai would probably be upset that she had inadvertently hurt Ino. Ino was one of Asuma's former students, so naturally Kurenai would feel protective of her.

"Now I don't want you to think that I'm saying all of this to put you down, but I want you to see that you really ought to tell not only Naruto what happened, but Ino as well. She'll find out sooner or later, and trust me, it's better that you say something to her than someone else." Hinata saw the logic in Kurenai's words. She knew that her sensei meant the best for her.

Of course it would be best for her to tell Ino (naturally Ino would be hurt once she found out), and it would be better if Hinata explained the situation to her as Naruto didn't know all of the details. Kurenai paused for a moment and let Hinata take in her words before speaking again. "I know that you said that you've been trying to talk to Naruto for a while now, but this is something that he needs to know. That is, you are keeping the baby right?"

Hinata hadn't even thought of any other options. It was Naruto's baby, so of course she was going to keep it!

"Yes, I'm keeping him or her," Hinata said without hesitation. "It's just, I don't understand. It was the first time, and I got pregnant. That doesn't happen..."

"Hinata, it happens quite frequently actually. I've known quite a few women who have gotten pregnant their first time because of the "it won't happen to me" or the "it's just this once" philosophy." Kurenai sighed. "Now that I've finished with making you feel guilty, I'm sure you are feeling guilt-ridden – I can see it in your face – we should talk about what you're going to do in the future for you and your baby. I know you well enough to know that talking to Naruto can be a colossal event. Telling him you are pregnant after he didn't even really believe that the two of you were really having sex will be a blow to him. But from what I know about him, he'll want to know so he can do the right thing."

That was something that Hinata had wondered about. Naruto was the type of person to do whatever he could in order to try and set things right. Yet in this situation, what was the "right" thing? What Hinata wanted to be the right thing was for Naruto to marry her and be with her and their baby. But was that really best for everyone? If Naruto didn't really want to be with her, then he would be unhappy, which would make her unhappy, which would no doubt cause their child to be unhappy.

However, there was another thing that made Hinata very nervous. What if her father bullied Naruto into marrying her? Surely her father would find out soon. He was the kind of father that would make Naruto marry her in order to prevent her from having a child out of wedlock. Her father had already threatened that Naruto ought to propose to her if they'd had sex. Add a baby to the picture, and she didn't want to see how her father reacted toward Naruto. She definitely didn't want Naruto to be forced into marrying her though.

"But what is the right thing for him to do?" Hinata asked Kurenai.

"That's a good question. The right thing for _you_ to do would be to tell him what's going on. Let him decide. He really didn't get much say in the whole thing, but I must say, everything seems a bit strange. Like I said, I understand that Ino seemed really into wanting to marry Naruto, but if he was willing to have sexual fantasies – real or otherwise – involving you, then perhaps that's something that you need to talk to him about. I don't blame him for his actions, not really, but doesn't it seem off to you Hinata?" Kurenai asked.

Hinata nodded. It did seem off to her. She didn't understand why Naruto and Ino had gotten together. She didn't get why –

A gasp escaped her lips as an epiphany hit her.

"Shikamaru might know, right? I mean, Ino must have said something more to him as to why the two of them got together. Even if she didn't, he's always brilliant at figuring things out. Maybe when he brings Yasuji-chan back I can ask-"

"Hinata," Kurenai interjected, and Hinata quieted immediately. She had noticed that her sensei had been saying her name a lot, and it made her feel like she was in trouble. Of course, in a lot of ways, she was. "This is something that you need to ask Naruto about. You need to face up to what is going on."

Hinata pressed her index fingers together.

"I know, but I d-don't k-know what to d-do," Hinata said. She looked down at her fingers and felt tears slip from her eyes. It all felt very surreal to her, but reality was catching up with her, and it was catching up too quickly.

Warm-arms wrapped around her shoulder, and Hinata looked up to meet the softening eyes of Kurenai.

"Whatever happens you are always welcome here. If you need help, you can come to me. But as you know, I won't let you run away from what you need to do. I also won't let you do it alone either," Kurenai said kindly. Hinata smiled at her weakly.

It was one of the things that had made coming to Kurenai-sensei a no brain option. Kurenai was able to tell Hinata her faults, but also help her fix them. She wouldn't let Hinata run away from her problems, but she would be there to face them with her as well. It was the make of a good teacher, and Hinata hoped that she would be able to be like her sensei. Kurenai put a lot of faith in her. She had told Hinata what she didn't necessarily _want_ to hear but had made her hear what she _needed_ to hear.

It was something a good mother would do. Something that she would hopefully learn to do herself.

"Another person who you should tell is your father," Kurenai said quietly. A little shiver of fear went through Hinata. Kurenai laughed. "It's better that you tell him then someone else."

Again, the voice of reason, but not something that Hinata wanted to do.

"I've watched you and your father for years. I know that he is much harder on you than he should be. He's said many things about you that I think were unwarranted. However, I also think that some of it has to do with the fact that he was very inexperienced in knowing how to raise a daughter. Unfortunately for you, by the time Hanabi came around, he had a better idea. He seems the type that would want to be a part of his grandchild's life, especially since the little one you carry would be the next in line for the Head Family."

Another shiver of fear went through Hinata, and she suddenly didn't want to tell her father at all. She had never really thought about the implications of what it would mean for her to have children. While her father had threatened to give the Head Family status to Hanabi when Hinata was younger, he hadn't mentioned anything about it in years. She had come to terms with the idea that yes, she might for one reason or another get demoted to the Branch Family, but she never thought about what Head and Branch Family might mean for her own children. Her first child would belong to the Head Family. But what about any other children she might have? It seemed almost cruel to continue to have children after the first.

"I...I guess I should do that t-too. B-but after I s-speak with N-Naruto-kun," Hinata said, finding her stutter coming out worse as she thought more and more about everything that being pregnant meant.

"If for whatever reason your father doesn't take the news well, you can stay with me," Kurenai offered.

"Thank you," Hinata said, truly grateful. Her mother had been ill during Hinata's young childhood and had been ill after Hanabi's birth. She'd died shortly after giving birth a second time. The only mother figure that Hinata had truly had growing up had been Kurenai.

"You're wel-"

For the second time that day, Kurenai was interrupted with a knock at the door. Kurenai smiled at Hinata a little before getting up to answer the door. Hinata frowned as she watched Kurenai opening the door. She had been there when Kurenai had first made the call for Shikamaru (she had done that before Hinata had re-taken the pregnancy test at her house). She wondered who else would be visiting Kurenai at this time of day. She really hoped that it wasn't Kiba or Shino. She really didn't feel like explaining to either one of her teammates that she was pregnant. Of course, she would have to later. She wondered if Akamaru already knew. Dogs knew that sort of thing early on. And she idly wondered if Shino's bugs might know. Maybe her teammates already knew and hadn't bothered to ask her about it. They would most likely wait to say something until after she did.

"Come on in," Kurenai said kindly. Hinata really hoped that it wasn't Kiba or Shino. However, when she turned to look at the person coming through the door she froze, shocked.

"Shikamaru found me, saying you had asked me to come over," Naruto said with a confused tone to his voice. His full attention had been on Kurenai when he had walked into the house, but once his eyes glanced around, he also froze when he saw Hinata.

"Hinata has something that she needs to talk to you about," Kurenai said. She came over and gently placed her hands on Hinata's shoulders.

Hinata supposed she really shouldn't feel betrayed, but she did. She wasn't ready to see Naruto. She hadn't even known that he was back in Konoha. Perhaps he had been avoiding her specifically?

Maybe it was better to get this over and done with, but she could feel that sense of rising panic building inside her, coming from her center and coming to weigh heavily in her throat. It felt as though she couldn't breathe, let alone talk to Naruto.

Yet there he was. While she was upset that Kurenai had gotten Shikamaru to find him and send him to her house, and while she was less than thrilled with his frozen expression (though she herself was surely frozen in place) she was honestly glad to see him. It was Naruto, her beloved Naruto. Somehow seeing him, despite everything, made the world just a little bit better.

"Hi," Naruto said, a blush rising to his cheeks.

"Hi," Hinata managed to squeak out.

"I'll be in the kitchen making some more tea," Kurenai said, giving Hinata a supportive squeeze. Part of Hinata wondered if it would be silly of her to call out to her sensei and ask her to stay. Kurenai was giving them privacy, but she was also stating that she was nearby if Hinata needed her.

Hinata watched as Kurenai left the living room and entered the adjacent kitchen.

"How are you?" Naruto asked, sitting down in a chair as far away from Hinata as he could get. His cheerful tone was clearly forced, and Hinata didn't know how to even begin to answer him. She didn't know what he thought of her, but she desperately wanted to know if he loathed her for being the cause of breaking up with Ino.

"I'm pregnant," Hinata blurted out in a squeak. For half a second she wondered if he had heard her, but the expression on his face as his eyes widened and his face seemed frozen in shock told her that he had indeed heard her.

It was one of those awkward moments where she could actually hear the birds chirping from outside. The noises of Kurenai preparing tea from the kitchen also seemed unusually and unnaturally loud.

"Oh," Naruto finally got out.

Hinata felt like hitting herself. That had not been the best way to tell him, blurting it out like that.

Naruto and Hinata sat in Kurenai's living room, not speaking to each other. Naruto seemed frozen in shock, and Hinata wasn't sure if she should speak or not.

"Wow," Naruto finally breathed out. "Just my luck that I'd get you pregnant. I must have some pretty good sperm, huh?" Naruto said, grinning widely before seeming aghast with himself that he said something like that. "I didn't mean it to sound like that."

But Hinata didn't care what it sounded like. His reaction made her smile, and she couldn't help it. She let out a little giggle that quickly turned into full-blown laughter. Of all the reactions Naruto could have had, it was one that she somehow hadn't expected but no one other than Naruto could have had.

Naruto stared at her and watched her laugh. He scratched the back of his head, looking awkward.

"It wasn't that funny," he said with a nervous laugh.

Hinata couldn't help but laugh harder. Maybe it wasn't all that funny, but the tension in her had to have some release. She sobered up suddenly as tears began to prickle at her eyes. She took a deep shuddering breath and wiped at her eyes before they fell.

"I'm not dreaming, right?" Naruto said with a less than amused laugh. Any good feelings that had come with her release of tension died with his uncharacteristically bitter words.

"N-no," Hinata said, looking down at her hands.

"I mean, I know the last time I saw you wasn't a dream. But that first time wasn't a dream either, was it? You really came to my apartment, didn't you?" Naruto asked. Hinata couldn't look at him nor find her voice to answer. She merely nodded. "And now you're pregnant," Naruto said, more of a statement than a question, but Hinata nodded anyway.

Naruto didn't say anything more for a minute, and Hinata finally looked up. He sat with his legs slightly apart with his head between his knees. His fingers were laced in his hair, but his eyes were still open staring but unseeing at the floor.

"Naruto-kun-"

"I-I need to go. I forgot to do something," Naruto said, suddenly standing up. He looked at Hinata, and there was no way that she could read the emotions in his eyes. He was a blur of color, and the next thing Hinata knew she heard the door shutting.

"Well, he didn't slam it, so that's a good sign," Kurenai said as she brought out the tea. "He could have taken the news much worse."

Somehow, that didn't make Hinata feel any better.

**Next Chapter: Hiashi vs. Naruto**

* * *

This chapter was very difficult to get out. It was literally painful to finish editing; I broke a nail. While that seems cliché and silly, I broke my nail down in the nail bed. Pressing on the keys (with my left pointer finger no less) hurt.

On an unrelated note, there's a possibility that the next chapter will not be out next Sunday as I will be busy next weekend.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! ~ Jelp


	11. Chapter 10: Hiashi vs Naruto

**Desperation**

**Chapter 10: Hiashi vs. Naruto**

Hinata wandered aimlessly around the edges of her home. She had left Kurenai-sensei's house nearly two hours ago, and she had dreaded walking back into her own home to face her father. Kurenai had suggested that she get everything over and done with as soon as possible; tell everyone right away so that the weight of her guilt, of her secret, didn't weigh her down. Part of Hinata wondered if she should wait and get an official doctor's examination first before speaking to her father, while another part of her said that she should just go with the four, (or was it five now?) pregnancy tests that she had taken.

Of course, there was another method that she could use to see if she truly carried Naruto's child; checking for the child's chakra with her byakugan.

Yet did she really want to know for sure?

Hinata finally gave in and activated her byakugan, searching for a different spike in her chakra. She was almost frustrated when she was unable to find it. It wasn't as though the child's chakra would be very noticeable at this early stage of development, and there was also the fact that the stronger the mother's chakra, the harder it would be for a byakugan user to detect an underlying new current of chakra. Even so, Hinata felt somewhat slated that she couldn't detect the fetus's chakra. She felt as though being Naruto's child, the baby ought to be strong – stronger than her at least: strong like Naruto.

She wasn't sure if she was more frustrated that her byakugan abilities did not allow her to sense the child's presence or that her chakra out-weighed that of the baby's.

It was ironic, really. She hadn't wanted to believe that she was pregnant just a few hours ago, and now here she was, upset that she couldn't detect the chakra presence that she felt ought to be inside of her.

On the bright side it meant that her father would be unlikely to detect another chakra presence until much later on in her pregnancy. That meant that she could bide her time from telling him if she wanted to; and she truly did want to bide her time.

Yet Kurenai-sensei's voice rang in her head, telling her it would be best to tell him now. Kurenai had even offered to go with Hinata to tell her father, but Hinata had declined. Kurenai had given her that look that said, "You just don't want me to come with you because you're not going to do it."

That was part of it, but Hinata had also wanted to search for Naruto before speaking with her father. She felt that she needed to talk with him before she talked with her father.

Hinata feared her father's reaction. She wasn't quite sure what he would do, but whatever it was, she had a feeling that he would somehow make the situation between Naruto and herself even worse than it already was. She could imagine her father yelling at Naruto, telling him that he had to marry Hinata in order for the Hyuuga clan to save face, and Naruto yelling back that he hadn't known what was going on.

She doubted her father would believe Naruto, and she could practically see her father being so insulted that he would attack Naruto in his rage. She could see the headlines now:

Hiashi vs. Naruto – Konoha's duel of the century.

Hinata shook her head, hoping that she was being over-dramatic, but knowing that her father could be coldly impartial at best, and overly protective and too prideful at worst.

Even so, she didn't want to find out which end of the spectrum her father would be on when she happened to tell him the news. Letting him know that she was pregnant, that the baby's father was Naruto, and that Naruto hadn't known what he was doing (as it was all Hinata's fault and therefore would most likely not marry her) would not go over well.

A little miserable sigh escaped her lips. She had tried to find Naruto unsuccessfully for over an hour. Now that she had returned home she didn't want to go inside, and she continued to walk around the Hyuuga complex's walls. Part of her wondered if her father would suddenly appear before her, that look in his eyes telling her that he already _knew_ and was already overtly disappointed in her.

Yet her father never appeared outside to look for her, and she was finally reduced to heading inside to seek out her father and tell him the truth. She decided that she would try and tell him all in a rush as she had with Naruto. Of course she had a feeling that her words were less likely to manifest into a coherent statement in her father's presence. Not that she had been very coherent when speaking with Naruto, but she had at least managed to blurt it out.

Her feet carried her to her father's study, and she stood outside there nervously, her hand raised and prepared to knock.

"Come in," Hiashi's voice beckoned quietly but still firmly through the solid wooden door. Hinata felt her shoulders flinch a little; she hadn't even knocked yet.

When she was younger, she had always assumed that her father had activated his byakugan and that was how he had known that she was waiting outside of the door. When she got older he had finally told her that her chakra would spike when she was nervously debating on speaking with him or not; her nervousness gave her away.

Hesitantly she opened the door and walked inside. Hiashi didn't look at her when she entered. Instead he was sitting in the middle of the floor seated cross-legged in a meditative stance. Hinata glanced over to the desk off to the side of the room, remembering when she was little how she would hide underneath the desk. Right now she wanted to run over and hide under the desk again.

"What is it?" Hiashi asked calmly, his voice relaxed in his meditative stance. Hinata's chest constricted, feeling a cold weight settle inside of her. It was rare that her father seemed so relaxed, and she was extremely loath to have it vanish with the news she had for him.

On the other hand, perhaps now was the best time since he seemed so laid back? She prayed fervently that that was the case.

"I-I-" Hinata stuttered out. She went to speak again, but her words caught in her throat, and she made more of a squeaking noise than a recognizable statement.

"It is best for you to be able to speak when you need to address your father," Hiashi said, his voice sounding slightly annoyed.

Hinata swallowed, hoping her voice would work. Why couldn't now be like all the other times where he just figured it out, and she didn't actually have to say anything? She wouldn't have to speak, just stand frozen and listen to him rant. Right now, speaking seemed nearly impossible.

Hiashi didn't say anything more. He sat on the floor meditating. Taking a minute to compose herself, and trying to get her voice to work, Hinata finally managed out a whisper.

"Pregnant," she all but squeaked in her smallest voice. Hiashi's eyes shot open, and he looked at Hinata, shock on his face.

_"What?"_ he gasped.

"I'm pregnant," she whispered out. Hiashi stood up, his face turning a strange sort of blotchy red.

"You're _what_?" he demanded as he stood up, coming closer to her, towering over her smaller form. Hinata's mouth formed words, but no sound came out. She backed up a step as her father stood looming ominously above her.

Her inability to say anything else made Hiashi turn away from her. He didn't speak, a quiet rage seeming to settle over him. Hinata watched as he walked toward the desk that she had wanted to crawl under before. Her father sat at the desk, and stared unseeing in front of him.

"Uzumaki is the father, isn't he?" Hiashi asked, his ability to just _know _returning back to him. At least Hinata hadn't had to try and tell him that piece of information as her voice still wasn't working properly. She merely nodded.

He paused before speaking again, his eyes still not looking at her, unfocused, unseeing.

"He should be here now to take responsibility for his actions, and to support you," Hiashi said, his voice cold and upset. The insult to Naruto finally jolted Hinata from her inability to speak.

"He didn't know," Hinata spoke in Naruto's defense. Finally Hiashi's eyes turned to look at Hinata.

"You didn't tell him you were pregnant?" Hiashi asked.

"No...I mean...I told him. H-he just d-didn't know about the p-process." She hoped she wouldn't have to explain to her father that by process she meant having sex. In fact, she felt she'd rather die than talk to her father about having sex with Naruto. "He...thought...it was a genjutsu...I m-mean a dream," Hinata said, her face turning bright red as she couldn't bring herself to explain to her father the entire situation. If Hinata hadn't been so terrified of her father's reaction at the moment, she would have laughed at the comical disbelief on his face.

"_You _seduced Uzumaki using a genjutsu?" Hiashi asked incredulously. Hinata's face flamed red.

"No! No...I, I mean. I, well – Naruto-kun didn't know – it was – "

"I don't want to know," Hiashi cut her off harshly, firmly holding up his hands. "I understand that you have had feelings for Uzumaki for some time now, but to stoop so low as to break up his engagement using whatever methods you saw fit is _despicable_. You planned to get pregnant with his child so that he would be forced to be with you in the end if he planned to uphold his honor, didn't you?" Hiashi asked.

"No! No! It's not like that. I didn't m-mean to hurt Naruto-kun. It was an a-accident. I didn't want to hurt him like t-that. Or Ino-san! I love Naruto!" Hinata yelled out, tears streaming down her face. "I love him! I didn't want to b-be with him l-like this. I wanted him to l-love me back!" Hinata burst out, yelling at her father, her frustrations coming out in her yelling. The anger she felt toward herself for how selfish she was letting itself out as the tears streamed endlessly down her face.

"You love Uzumaki, but what about your family? You have duties here. You have honor to uphold and maintain as the heiress to the Hyuuga Head Branch. Have you thought about that? Uzumaki, if he does not want to be with you, has every right to disown you due to whatever trickery you used against him. How will the family handle your dishonorable actions?" Hiashi demanded, his voice cold and hard.

Hinata didn't answer. She hadn't thought about her family's reaction to this outcome; she hadn't really had time to. She knew what type of trouble would come with her pregnancy, but she hadn't wanted to think about the deeper issues that would come with it.

Hiashi sighed deeply, as he put his hand to his forehead. Hinata watched in morbid fascination as a look of realization dawned on her father. When he spoke next, his tone seemed more at ease.

"On the other hand, perhaps this is for the best." He paused, and a light seemed to enter his eyes, a light that made Hinata very nervous. He seemed to come to a conclusion. "Yes, yes it is for the best. You may have come up with a brilliant solution after all," Hiashi said thoughtfully. Something in her chest twisted tightly, and Hinata didn't like the sound of that.

"What are you t-talking about?" Hinata asked worriedly.

"If you give birth without marrying Uzumaki, then he will not have any bearing into the family. He will still be an outsider. He is a strong shinobi which is good for the heritage of your child, but Uzumaki will not have to help raise the child. Outside influences from other shinobi and their families has always been a weak point in proper training for the Hyuuga clan. Having a strong child being the next in line for the Head Family, solely dedicated and loyal to the Hyuuga is best," Hiashi said.

Hinata felt mortified. Naruto not be a part of the child's life at _all_?

Hiashi stood up from the desk, and walked by her, placing a hand on her shoulder as though he were proud of her instead of disgusted as he had seemed earlier.

"I will begin the proper arrangements for full custody. If we begin the process now, there will be no time for Naruto to file at the child's birth. Usually these custody battles do not occur till the actual birth of the child, but if we prepare now, we will win. If he makes an appeal, we will have more backed up to our claim due to how much more information we will have if we start now. Yes, it will be much harder for Naruto to appeal if he decides he wants the child."

"But Naruto-kun is the father! He has a r-right to our b-baby!" Hinata gasped out in total and utter horror. Hiashi squeezed Hinata's shoulder firmly.

"Think of Naruto-kun. You said yourself that he didn't know. Take the full responsibility as yours. Don't be a burden to him, and learn responsibility to your clan." Hiashi didn't say more as he left the room.

Hinata stood frozen in horror. She had never expected her father to react as he had. He was going to battle Naruto, but not in the physical sense as she had thought. He would battle Naruto in a legal sense for the custody of _their_ child! The baby was hers. Her baby! Hers and Naruto's!

She wouldn't let that happen.

Hinata turned toward the door, intent on telling her father that she would not allow her child to live a life without seeing its father but a sobering thought left her immobile.

What if her father was right and Naruto didn't want to be around the baby? She _had_ seduced him, and he hadn't exactly reacted very well to the news of her pregnancy.

She couldn't blame him for that.

Plus, she had been the cause that he had broken his engagement off with Ino. Maybe...maybe he would be okay with not wanting to see their child?

But no. Naruto had always wanted to belong to a family. He wouldn't give up on his, even if he hadn't meant for it to happen.

Hinata put a hand to her still flat stomach, wondering what the future would bring. She held her head up high.

She had to find Naruto, and ask him what he wanted. She needed to know what he wanted. If he didn't want her then she could understand that. But wouldn't Naruto want to be with his family?

Hinata ran out of her father's study, determined to find Naruto, hoping her new desperation to find out what Naruto wanted would help her actually be able to talk with him when she found him.

**Next Chapter: Top of the Hokage Monument**

* * *

For those of you who read the author's note last time you realized that I had said I might be busy last weekend – which I was. But here is the latest chapter! I hope you liked it. ~ Jelp


	12. Chapter 11: Top of the Hokage Monument

**Desperation**

**Chapter 11: Top of the Hokage Monument**

Knowing that Naruto had run away from the situation, Naruto who _never_ ran away from any situation, and that he had not been able to face the knowledge that he was going to be a father filled Hinata with doubt. What if he really didn't want any part in the baby's life? What would Hinata do then?

Yet the small, hopeful voice in her head told her that Naruto really wanted a family. He'd been alone for so long that it was high time that he had a family of his own.

Of course that small, hurtful voice in her head said that he didn't want _her_ to be a part of his family.

Hinata shook her head trying to shake out the negatives. She needed to focus if she wanted to find Naruto. So far even using her byakugan had been useless. She'd searched everywhere within Konoha with no sign of Naruto. It was almost as though he had disappeared.

The thought of how she'd searched high and low came to mind, and then she realized that she hadn't truly searched "high." Activating her byakugan again, she turned her focus toward the high spots in Konoha, finally locking in on Naruto's location on top of the Hokage Monument.

She climbed the steps to the top, not pausing to look at the greenery as she normally did. Her intent on finding and speaking with Naruto pushed her onward with urgency.

Naruto sat on top of the Fourth Hokage's head, looking out over Konoha. Hinata rarely ever came to the top of the Mountain, but she'd seen Naruto do it on occasion. Mostly she'd seen him pull pranks up here (like painting the four Hokage's faces) and she idly wondered if he would risk painting Tsunade's newer face now. She had a feeling Naruto feared Tsunade's wrath more than he'd ever feared Sandaime's.

Standing behind Naruto, watching him look over Konoha, his expression so serious, she wasn't sure where or how to start.

He didn't turn to look at her, but his words told her that he knew that she was there.

"This was where I asked Ino to marry me," Naruto murmured.

A kunai to her heart would have felt better at the moment than those words. Her thoughts had been so focused on her own heartache that she hadn't given pause to the thought of how Naruto had dealt with breaking up with Ino.

Naruto had broken up with Ino because he'd had sex with Hinata. He hadn't truly meant to be with Hinata; he had thought it was a dream. Vividly she recalled how he had said some nonsense to her about when you dream sometimes one person represents another person. Apparently he'd thought that she had represented Ino in his supposed "dream."

She wished that Sai had never given him that book to read: given him that book that had confused him and made him think that she was Ino in a dream.

Idly Hinata wondered where Sai had found such a nonsensical book.

"Well, actually she asked me to marry her," Naruto said thoughtfully. His words snapped Hinata back to the present, and she realized his voice wasn't bitter at the memory, but rather thoughtful.

"R-really?"

"Tsunade-baa-chan called me into her office, said that she had something to talk to me about," Naruto explained. Blinking, Hinata wondered what Tsunade had to do with Ino asking Naruto to marry her. She waited patiently for Naruto to explain. He continued. "She said that she had something that she wanted to give me, something that she thought I ought to have."

Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out two small boxes. He opened the first and showed her a man's wedding band. Recognition filled her, and she remembered seeing Naruto trying on that wedding band during their first night together.

She'd activated her byakugan to see if Naruto was there – to also make sure Ino wasn't – and he'd been looking at that ring on his hand. At the time, she'd wondered if perhaps Naruto and Ino had already gotten married because Naruto had been wearing the wedding band. Apparently he had just been trying it on to look at it.

"Tsunade-sama gave you that?"

"It was my dad's. And this one was my mom's," Naruto explained as he opened up the other small box, showing her a woman's wedding ring. She could tell that it was dainty and ornate, but she didn't get closer to look at it. A part of her feared getting closer to Naruto in case he didn't want her to invade his personal space. After everything she'd put him through, she deserved it.

Naruto turned toward her, holding the ring out to her, as though giving her permission to look at it and to come closer as well. She stepped closer and took the little box from him, examining the ring. It was strange to think that it belonged to Naruto's mother. It was even stranger to think that Tsunade had had it.

The small ring was gorgeous though. It was craftily designed in the shape of Konoha's symbol, with a large diamond placed in the center of the Konoha Leaf design.

"It's beautiful," Hinata said quietly in awe. Her eyes swam with the emotions filling her, trying not to think of whether or not Naruto had given this ring to Ino, and if so, how he'd gotten it back from her.

"Baa-chan told me that because of the design that my dad had to have had it specially made for my mom," Naruto said, his eyes on the box. Hinata handed it back to him. He smiled at the ring fondly, the smile brightening his face.

"Ano..." Hinata paused, not sure how to steer the conversation to what she wanted to speak about. In fact, she dreaded it. She didn't want to be the one to wipe that brilliant smile off his face. Instead of asking about their current, messed up relationship, she decided to ask the first thought that came to mind. "Why did Tsunade-sama have your parents' rings?"

Naruto gave a chuckle, and his smile widened.

"Apparently when my mom got pregnant with me, her fingers swelled up, and she had to take her ring off. It upset her so much that my dad decided that he would take off his ring as well, placing them both in a safe spot until after she gave birth. He bought her a wrist band with the Konoha symbol on it, and they both wore matching wristbands instead. But..." As he trailed off, the brilliant smile faded just a little, "...they both died the day of my birth. And it wasn't until a couple months ago that Tsunade-baa-chan found the rings."

He paused again. Hinata's curiosity mounted, and as always with Naruto, his voice made her forget all of her own worries, and instead, she focused on wondering where Naruto's father could have possibly placed the two rings for it to have been Tsunade to have found them.

"Where were the rings?" Hinata asked, prompted by Naruto's story. Naruto smiled widely again.

"They were under the floor boards of the Hokage's Office. My dad hid them there. Baa-chan only found them by accident. She got mad at somebody and slammed her fist so hard on the desk that it pounded into the floor. They had to get the whole floor replaced. Yamato-taichou was helping out, and he found a box with these inside."

"Why would your father hide them there?"

Naruto shrugged.

"I dunno. I thought it was cool and romantic, but who really knows? Everyone calls him a genius, so maybe it was just a really smart idea to put them there."

Naruto's words of how "everyone" referred to his father as a genius made it seem like Naruto's father was famous. Hinata's mouth formed a little round "o" as a few things began to click together.

For someone to have hidden something in the Hokage's office, intending to get them back would most likely indicate that the hider was the Hokage. Yondaime died the same day as Naruto's birthday.

And here Naruto was, sitting on top of Yondaime's head. Not to mention, now that she thought about it, the two of them looked almost identical.

Hinata felt a bit stupid for not ever seeing the connection before that Yondaime was Naruto's father. Feeling a bit stupid made her think of how much of a mess she'd made, making her feel even more stupid as she remembered why she was looking for Naruto in the first place.

"Naruto-kun-"

"Hinata-"

They both spoke at the same time, but then both paused, waiting for the other to finish. Hinata wanted to be able to apologize, asking him what she needed to ask him, but as usual found her voice lacking. Naruto spoke instead.

"I'm sorry I ran out like I did earlier," Naruto began in a rush, his face set in an indignant expression. "But I really did forget to do something!" Then his expression fell. "I mean, I didn't really have to do it then, it's just...Shikamaru ran into me on my way to go talk to Ino."

Hinata was still wishing for that kunai to stab her heart instead of to hear Naruto talk about Ino, but she knew that it was her own fault and that she deserved it.

"I had promised that I would talk to her and tell her why I really broke up with her. And well, I remembered that I had promised to meet her before Shikamaru had told me I ought to see Kurenai-sensei, and when we were talking, it made me remember that." Naruto rubbed the back of his head, and actually gave a nervous chuckle. "So when I saw Ino, I sorta-told-her-that-I-got-you-pregnant-and-that-was-why-I-broke-up-with-her. She seemed pretty mad."

The color drained from Hinata's face, and she knew she'd be sleeping with extra protection tonight.

"I didn't mean to tell her like I did! It's just that I thought she ought to know considering everything..." Naruto sat down roughly in place, crossed his legs, and put his face in the palm of his hand. "Okay, okay. Here's what happened.

"It's kind of pathetic really. A couple months ago I was up here thinking about my parents and looking at the rings. Ino came by and saw me with the rings, and thought I was going to propose to Sakura. I explained to her that one, the rings belonged to my parents, and two, that Sakura seemed like she would never go out with me, let alone marry me."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"Apparently what I said surprised Ino. She'd said she'd never heard me so dejected before. I was one of the few people who always seemed so sure of himself."

Hinata knew for a fact that this wasn't the case. She knew that out of everyone, Naruto was probably the hardest on himself. He tended to berate himself on the inside, while putting on a front for others to show that he thought that he was amazing.

In a way, it was rather sad that Naruto had to act as his own rooting team because no one else did. Or at least, no one else had. Lately the entire village was prone to talk about his great deeds and amazing abilities.

"She and I started talking," Naruto began to explain again, fidgeting with the two rings. "She told me that she thought that Sasuke would never date her either."

Perhaps Sasuke had been right after all. The first time that Hinata had seen Naruto after her momentary spark of desperation, she had overheard Sasuke and Naruto talking. Sasuke accused Naruto of lying about the fact that Naruto cared for Ino, and Sasuke had even seemed a bit suspicious as to why Naruto was trying to impress upon Sasuke how great of a girlfriend/fiancé she was.

"You two decided to get together to try and make Sakura and Sasuke jealous?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"That does sound really low when you put it like that. And yeah, basically. If I were with Sakura, then Sakura wouldn't go after Sasuke, and if Ino were with Sasuke, well, it would still have just stopped Sakura. Sasuke has never shown interest in Sakura like _that_. Anyway, Ino went a bit off with the idea though. She said that we should act engaged because it would shock more people into action faster. But I thought it would make people more suspicious because of how fast our relationship was moving. Why would Sakura or Sasuke take a sudden interest if we were engaged? But, I dunno. I guess I also sorta liked the idea of being engaged to someone."

There was such a sorrow in his voice that Hinata felt her heart wrench. Sasuke had been right about what he had said about Naruto:

_"Naruto, stop lying to me, and damnit, stop lying to yourself. I still think you're lying – even if you don't know it. You're not in love. You're just excited that someone finally likes you. That's not love. And those lies are hurting more people than you realize with this charade."_

"You began to like her, and she began to like you though. She didn't want to be with Sasuke any more. She wanted to be with you," Hinata noted. Ino had been truly heart broken when Naruto had broken off their engagement. And with Naruto's warmth versus Sasuke's coldness, she could understand why Ino would pick Naruto over Sasuke.

Naruto nodded.

"I enjoyed spending time with her. And I think that she liked the attention. No offense to Sasuke, but he really doesn't pay any true attention to the girls that like him. Says they bug him. I think Ino finally got to see that she didn't want to be with someone who wouldn't pay any attention to her. A relationship is supposed to be about two people being mutually involved. Not one on over kill and the other just going along with it.

"I did eventually tell Sasuke about what Ino and I had planned," Naruto said, grumbling. "He told me I was an idiot. I felt like one too."

The idea of Naruto and Ino together had never sat well with Hinata. She had always believed, or at least, had always _hoped_ that there was an explanation other than love as to why the two of them would be together. Yet at the same time, it just didn't seem to fit with what she knew about Naruto for him to try and manipulate people's feelings like that. While she didn't like the idea of him feeling like an idiot, she was glad that he at least realized what he had been doing was wrong.

Not that she was really one to talk.

"Ino said she was going to tell Sakura, but then she kept on putting it off. She finally told me that she liked me and wanted to start dating for real. That's when, well..."

Naruto trailed off and Hinata could fill in the blank. That was when Hinata and Naruto had had sex...again.

"Hinata," Naruto said, turning to fully look at her. "I care for Ino. And Sakura too. I know the right thing to do is to marry you to be with the baby, but I don't know if I can do that. I don't love you.

"But I care about you too. I mean, you're one of my friends. I just don't know what to do right now."

Hinata swallowed. Even though she had never expected Naruto to be in love with her like she was with him, to hear him say it still hurt. At least he cared for her and didn't despise her for her deception.

Still, it seemed strange to her. If she were Naruto, she would have wanted answers to questions like "Why did you seduce me?" "Why didn't you tell me what had happened?"

But Naruto didn't ask. He just accepted what had happened. Hinata wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing that he tended not to over think things like she did.

"Will you go out with me?" Hinata squeaked out quickly, blushing furiously that she had finally managed to ask him the question she had wanted to ask for so long.

"What did you say? I couldn't hear you. You sorta mumbled through it."

Hinata inwardly groaned. She finally said it and he hadn't even heard her?

"Go out with me?" Hinata managed a little louder.

"Go out with you? On a date? Isn't that going backwards?" Naruto wondered, but he seemed to realize that he had made her upset because he put his hands out in front of him as though saying 'I didn't mean it to sound like that.' "Uh, yeah! I mean, why not?"

Not quite the reaction Hinata had always hoped for. Why not? was more of a, "I've nothing better to do" type of reaction.

But he agreed!

It made Hinata's heart soar with hope.

**Next Chapter: In Laws and Exes**

* * *

Sorry about the delay. I just didn't feel like writing. Turns out I have a thyroid problem. Once I got on meds, I felt a load better (even though I didn't really feel bad until I felt better) and I started writing again. While I might not update next Sunday, I'm planning on getting one out in two weeks. I already have the next chapter mapped out. :D

~ Jelp


	13. Chapter 12: In Laws and Exes

**Desperation**

**Chapter 12: In Laws and Exes**

Hinata felt slightly dazed as she walked back down from the Hokage Mountain with Naruto. Naruto had decided that they ought to go out to dinner since they had talked about going on a date, and since it was also dinnertime. He said he would treat.

It was a big surprise for her when Naruto led her not to Ichiraku ramen but to another shop for dinner. It was a little dango shop, a shop that Hinata favored.

"How did you know that I liked this place?" Hinata asked, feeling happy when he pulled her chair out so she could sit down. Naruto rubbed the back of his head, and gave her a sheepish look.

"I didn't know. Sakura likes this place, so I thought you might too," Naruto explained.

Hinata nodded, trying not to feel too upset. Being compared to Sakura, and having Naruto think of Sakura made her feel dejected. It was strange for her to go from feeling jealous of Ino to feeling jealous of Sakura – again. She'd always felt a little bit of jealousy toward Sakura since Naruto's intelligent teammate had managed to grab Naruto's attention when she hadn't. And why wouldn't she? She was smart, fairly pretty, and a much better ninja than Hinata was. Ino was also prettier than she was, and a lot prettier.

None of her fantasies where she went out on a date with Naruto included this misery that she currently felt.

Positive, think positive, she tried telling herself. After all, he had chosen this place hoping she would like it.

"They have really good dangos here. Not as good as the homemade stuff you cook, but still pretty good," Naruto said as he looked at the menu. Hinata's head shot up. Naruto wasn't looking at her, still engrossed with the menu. It had been an honest comment, not meant to flatter her, but it had. Naruto had a strange habit of making her feel like the most horrible person and then like the most amazing person.

"Thank you," Hinata murmured, smiling pleasantly to herself.

Dinner was much less awkward than Hinata initially thought it would be. Part of it might have been her lack of talking, but she didn't mind. Naruto was animatedly telling of one of his many (mis-)adventures with Jiraiya. It was amusing and entertaining. It was nice to have an excuse to look at Naruto as he spoke. She smiled and giggled as he told her his tale, and he seemed pleased with her rapt attention.

In fact, besides the initial comment about the dango shop being one of Sakura's favorite places to eat, Hinata found herself enjoying the date just as much as she had always dreamed she would in her fantasies. Naruto kept her entertained, and she had always loved to hear his voice and watch him smile.

"Just ignore them."

Hinata's back went rigid, and a crashing wave of guilt washed over her as she heard Sakura's whispered voice. She turned her head slightly, watching as Ino and Sakura were sitting at a table not too far away from where they were. After a few moments of silence, and a look back toward Naruto, Hinata realized that Naruto had seen them too. His face had turned slightly red, and he looked away off to the side. The dango that he had been swinging wildly around during his tale got placed back on the plate.

Hinata glanced over at Ino and Sakura. Both girls quickly turned away when she looked over at them. Hinata felt her face heat up, and she looked down at her hands, wishing she hadn't eaten so much as she suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

Naruto and Hinata sat there, neither speaking for a moment.

It had been a stupid thing to do, Hinata mused. Seducing Naruto hadn't done anything but hurt him.

Hinata, not able to stand it anymore, quietly excused herself for a moment. Her feet wanted to turn and run to the closest bathroom, but she resolutely walked over toward Ino and Sakura's table. Both girls glanced up at her when she approached, both looking confused, angry, and betrayed. Neither spoke, and Hinata wasn't sure if she'd rather they lay it on her or not.

"H-hi," Hinata finally stuttered out.

"Hi," Sakura murmured back.

"Are you really pregnant?" Ino asked, her eyes wide, more incredulous than angry. Hinata nodded. Ino looked away.

"Congratulations," Sakura said, smiling. A forced smile, but the words had been sincere.

"Thank you," Hinata said, surprised. Now that she thought about it, she supposed most people would congratulate a pregnant woman on her new bundle of joy. It was a little degrading that Sakura had been the first.

"Yeah, congratulations," Ino murmured. Her words were much less sincere: the hurt clear in them. Hinata had assumed with Sakura and Ino's past that the two of them would be angry at her for stealing Naruto away. After all, they had always bickered over Sasuke.

Hinata also knew that Ino had been genuinely hurt when Naruto had broken off their engagement. Sakura had also seemed to have also really been infatuated with Naruto when Ino had started showing her how happy she was with him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't – I mean – "

"Hinata, don't," Sakura said, interrupting her, as she looked at Ino. Ino looked away from the both of them, crossing her arms. Even so, Hinata could see tears in her eyes. "It's, well…I mean…it's okay," Sakura said, looking at Ino. Of course it wasn't okay.

"You liked him. Both of you did," Hinata said. "Both of you still do."

"Just rub it in why don't you? Now that you have him and got pregnant so he's got to stay with you," Ino snapped as she turned back to glare at Hinata. The words stung, and Hinata actually flinched backwards.

She hadn't gotten pregnant to trap him, but it probably seemed that way.

"You were being manipulative! You were trying to mess with mine and Sasuke's emotions!" Sakura hissed to Ino.

Hinata idly noted that neither of them seemed to blame Naruto for their pain. It made her chest ache. It showed how much they cared for him that they didn't bad mouth him. Then again, from what Naruto had said, he'd gone along with it more than doing any actual plotting.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Ino blurted out, seemingly unable to stop herself.

"Oh come on," Sakura said with a roll of her eyes, answering for Hinata. "Can you see Hinata admitting to having...well, you know what with Naruto?" It seemed hard for Sakura to say have, as though it was hard for her to stomach the idea. Then again it probably was. Hinata knew she cringed at the thought of Naruto liking either of them. She'd be so upset if he ever had sex with them.

Ino almost snorted. "I have to say, you've no idea how surprised I was. You're so timid around him," Ino said, sounding ever so slightly amused. Slightly amused may have been over-exaggerating, but Hinata was trying to be positive.

"It is shocking," Sakura agreed.

"Your loss. You could have jumped him ages ago," Ino said, sounding bitter, directing the jealousy to Sakura rather than Hinata. For once, Hinata could empathize with Ino's sentiments. Sakura scowled.

"Well - " Sakura began, but didn't seem to know where to go with it. Instead she crossed her arms and let out an annoyed huff.

"Hi." Naruto's voice from behind her made Hinata jump, and by Sakura's and Ino's expressions, neither of them had realized he had come up to speak with them either.

"Hi," Ino and Sakura mumbled back.

"We should get going," Naruto said, placing a hand gently on Hinata's shoulders.

It was strange: very strange. She was grateful for the attention, for the warmth of Naruto's hand on her shoulder, but she felt guilty that Naruto was giving her the attention that Sakura and Ino both wanted.

"I'll talk to you both later, okay?" Naruto said to Ino and Sakura, and Hinata saw the pained look on Naruto's face. She hated, no, _detested_, seeing that look on Naruto's face, especially knowing it was her fault. Because of her, Naruto was having problems with his important people.

Sakura and Ino both nodded at Naruto's statement. With a gentle push, Naruto urged Hinata to leave with him.

"Awkward as hell," Naruto commented as they left, and he grinned at her. It was forced, and Hinata frowned miserably back. His grin faltered and slipped into a half-sad smile.

They walked together, Naruto leading, Hinata following. Neither talked, and Hinata was sad when she found that Naruto had walked her home.

"I'm sorry. This is all my fault! I should never have -" Hinata began, but was silenced when Naruto placed his hands on her shoulders and spoke.

"Hinata, it's my fault too. Not just yours. At least Ino and Sakura didn't start yelling at me though. I was afraid they would."

Hinata was not surprised that they hadn't yelled at him, though she was slightly surprised that they hadn't yelled more at her.

"Listen, I had a nice time tonight before they showed up. I want to do it again."

Hinata smiled, but then Naruto was rambling on again, his cheeks red. "Not do _that_ again! I mean, do it again as in do the date again," Naruto spurted out. Honestly, Hinata hadn't thought about his words "I want to do it again" to mean anything sexual. He was probably just a little flustered with the idea that they'd already had sex...twice. And she was pregnant on top of it because of it. Come to think of it, the idea did seem a bit embarrassing. She blushed thinking about it.

"I thought you had meant the date," Hinata said earnestly.

"Oh." Naruto said.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

Awkward, always awkward anymore.

Though that wasn't quite true. The dinner and the conversation at dinner were both nice.

"I had a nice time at dinner tonight too. I love hearing your stories."

"Really?" Naruto asked, his face lighting up. Hinata smiled at him, feeling happy that she'd made him smile.

"Really." They both stood there, smiling at each other. The awkwardness had vanished.

"Good night Hinata," Naruto said finally, still smiling.

"Good night, Naruto-kun." There was a moment of hesitation before Naruto leaned down to press his lips gently against hers.

Hinata could feel her heart beating wildly at the contact, the familiar warmth of the only pair of lips hers had ever had contact with sending her heart into a tizzy. Hinata couldn't help the slight moan as she slipped her hands behind his neck and pressed herself closer to him. Naruto's lips pulled back slightly, clearly surprised at her actions, but he recovered quickly as he wrapped his arms around her, and pressed his body more firmly against her body.

The warmth of his body pressed so close to hers made Hinata press herself closer to him. A haze seemed to have come over her, and she was only dimly aware of the fact that she had slowly began to rock her hips against his.

Naruto moaned against her. Strong hands moved to her sides, and Hinata gasped as Naruto lifted her up slightly, cradling her body against his torso as he walked a few steps forward, leaning her against the wall outside her house. She wrapped her legs around his waist for support.

Hinata entwined her fingers into Naruto's hair, relishing in the feelings coursing through her body as Naruto began to move against her. She could feel how hard he was as she rocked her hips back against his.

"This is hardly appropriate behavior."

Hinata wanted to die. That was her _father's_ voice.

Hinata's eyes fluttered opened (she hadn't even realized she'd closed them) watching as Naruto turned to look away from her. Gently, Naruto helped her get her footing back as she slid slightly down the wall as her feet were once more on the ground.

Naruto, face as red as a tomato, stepped in front of her slightly, putting himself between Hinata and Hiashi.

Hiashi raised his eyebrow, clearly surprised at the protective way that Naruto had gotten in front of Hinata.

"The young man who got my daughter knocked up, attempting to do so again, right outside my house, I see," Hiashi said, his voice neutral.

Naruto's face blazed a darker shade of red.

"Don't-" Hinata began.

"If you don't mind," Hiashi said, his voice dark as he cut off Hinata's warning, "I'd like to speak to my daughter inside my house. Alone, and away from horny young men."

"I-" Naruto began angrily.

"I already told you it was my fault!" Hinata said angrily.

"It didn't look like you had to twist his arm very hard to get him to agree," Hiashi said, his voice still maddeningly calm.

Naruto clenched and unclenched his fists together.

"It seems you don't want to talk to me now though, Hinata. So if you don't mind, I'd like to speak with him alone. Unless you don't think you're man enough to handle that Uzumaki?"

Naruto's face was now set in rage, but he hadn't said anything yet. The comment was said in such a way that Hinata knew Naruto wasn't going to refuse her father's request.

"Fine. Let's talk," Naruto gritted out.

"This way," Hiashi said, gesturing with his hand for where Naruto was to go.

Hinata watched, baffled, as her father led Naruto into the house. Hinata remained there, standing outside her home, stunned.

She was embarrassed beyond all belief that her father had caught her like that with Naruto.

She was even more stunned that Naruto was currently in her house talking with her _father_.

But beyond embarrassed and stunned, she was angry that her father had interrupted. The date had just started getting good!

**Next Chapter: Physical Attraction**

* * *

Just FYI: updates will be every other Sunday.

I wrote this in a way I've never done before: via IM with my fiancé. Let me know what you thought! ~ Jelp


	14. Chapter 13: Physical Attraction

**Desperation**

**Chapter 13: Physical Attraction**

Hinata knew that she needed to find out what her father planned to say to Naruto. While Hinata knew that her father would be able to sense her presence right outside the door of his study where he had undoubtedly taken Naruto to talk, there were other ways she could find out what he was saying to Naruto.

Heading up to her room, which seemed the most obvious spot for her to go, she activated her byakugan, and focused on watching her father. They were in the study as she had predicted. Hiashi stood behind his desk, seemingly loathe to sit in Naruto's presence, and it didn't seem that he'd bothered to offer Naruto to take a seat. Then again, if Naruto had been offered one, Hinata wouldn't be surprised if he had declined it.

They hadn't started talking yet, or at least, neither of their lips were moving. Instead of initiating the conversation as he usually did when there was a lapse of silence, Naruto stood still, focusing his attention on Hiashi. Hiashi clasped his hands behind his back before focusing his white eyes on Naruto. Naruto didn't avert his gaze.

"You got my daughter pregnant," Hiashi finally spoke, his lips moving. Hinata wished she could hear the tone of his voice, but the slight upward tilt to his lips indicated it had come out as an accusation. Naruto stiffened, but said nothing.

Hinata bit her bottom lip. What would Naruto say if Hiashi asked him for details? Hinata had been the one to seduce Naruto without his direct knowledge. In reality, he had the right to be yelling at her for tricking him into a situation that had made him unhappy. Instead, Naruto was doing his best to do what he clearly thought was right. It made Hinata feel horrible to know that he was only pursuing a relationship with her because he felt trapped into doing the right thing.

"Have you any idea the precarious position you've put yourself in? Hinata is unwed and carries your child. The type of stain that something like this has on a man's reputation is very different than on a woman's reputation. She will bear the brunt of the criticism, while you will float through with hardly a blemish to your name."

"You want me to marry Hinata to take off the stain on her reputation?" Naruto asked. Hinata desperately wished she could hear the tone of his voice. His eyes were narrowed, and he certainly looked angry, but it was still hard to know for sure the feeling behind these words.

"No. I want you to give her full custody, and pretend like you have had no involvement whatsoever."

"What?! No! The baby's mine too!" Naruto said, and the fury was clear on his face, along with the surprise that Hiashi didn't want him to marry his daughter.

"You have no relationship with my daughter beyond physical attraction. A union based on physical attraction alone is doomed from the beginning. It is better that you realize that the two of you will not work as an actual couple, and relinquish your custody rights to the child now. If you were to marry my daughter and do the supposedly right thing, then you would end up being miserable in a relationship with her. She's too quiet in comparison to your rather rambunctious nature. She was raised in a proper family with clan etiquette and ties. You are held accountable to no one. How would you possibly understand what it's like to hold the type of responsibility necessary to have a proper family?"

Hinata gasped, and watched the emotion drain from Naruto's face. This emotionless mask showed Hinata just how badly her father's words had hurt him.

"Just because I never had a family, doesn't mean that I wouldn't be a good father – or husband," Naruto said, his fists clenched, his eyes lowered briefly before he shot his head up to glare challengingly at Hiashi. "You have a family and don't know how to be a good father. You've always been harsh on Hinata. She's always tried to be better! Ever since the Chuunin exams she's done her best to prove that to you, and you can't even see that!" Naruto exclaimed, or at least, Hinata hoped he did. She put her hand over her chest, feeling her heart beat wildly at Naruto's words.

"Whatever you may think in regard to the relationship I have with my eldest daughter, it does not deter from the fact that the relationship between you and Hinata is hardly substantial. Like I said, a physical attraction is the only thing the two of you have in common."

"I've known her since she was younger, and I might not know that much about her, but I know she's a good person, and she fights for what she believes in. We both do!"

Hinata watched as her father gave Naruto a once over.

"You should be heading home now," Hiashi said.

"We're not done talking yet! I am not-"

"No, we're not done talking permanently. But for tonight, you've worn out your welcome."

Naruto clenched his fists tighter, and for a moment, she thought that Naruto might argue, might try and stay and debate the point more. Instead he turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

She was about to divert her attention to focus on Naruto's angry departure from her house, but instead, her eyes caught the faintest of smiles flittering across her father's face.

Hinata frowned. It almost seemed like her father was pleased with what Naruto had said. Maybe he was impressed that Naruto hadn't backed down? She had a feeling her father would not have thought too well of Naruto if he had given up easily. Even if that's what her father wanted, to do so would have made Naruto a lesser man in Hiashi's eyes. Deciding not to dwell on her father's strange behavior, she turned her gaze to watch Naruto walk away from the house. Not once did he look back.

She deactivated her byakugan and sighed. She'd hoped that he would have come to find her, but she guessed with the way her father had treated him that it was to be expected that he would want to go away for a bit.

* * *

Hinata awoke the next morning to a quiet knocking on her door. She almost pretended that she hadn't heard the soft tapping, but knew her father would end up coming in the room with or without her telling him to come in.

"Come in," Hinata said, sliding out of bed and throwing a robe over her shoulders while rubbing the sleepiness from her eyes.

"I want Uzumaki's family history," Hiashi said as he brought a tray of food in. Hinata was surprised to see an assortment of breakfast foods already prepared for her.

"His history?" Hinata said, looking at the tray that her father placed on a little nightstand next to her bed.

"Yes. Ever since he was young, there were speculations about his heritage. For the sake of both of you, I hope that the rumors of his more impressive heritage background holds true. From what I have heard, Ino's father had looked into his background when the two of them announced their engagement, and was hard pressed to come up with any pertinent information. It appears that his background is, for some reason, confidential. While Yamanaka didn't pursue finding out the background of his daughter's potential husband, I want to find out as much as possible about him. Yes, he is powerful, and yes, he may be the next candidate for Hokage, but I want more details."

"I-" Hinata was about to tell him that Naruto had explained that his father was really Yondaime Hokage, and she wondered if that's what her father had meant about Naruto's more "impressive" history, but he didn't give her a chance to explain.

"And eat all of this breakfast. It's good for you and the baby. You are also not permitted to go to any training session from now on as it might potentially harm the child."

"What?"

"Unless you wish to have the same fate as your mother, and die during childbirth as she did with Hanabi, then I expect that you do as you're told."

Hiashi didn't say any more as he left the room.

Hinata was a little surprised. The food on the tray was clearly very nutritional – but she always ate fairly healthy. It was a little unnerving the way her father had brought her the tray as though he didn't trust her to take care of herself or her baby. She tried to look back to how her mother had behaved when she was pregnant with Hanabi, and remembered that she very rarely listened to what her father had tried to tell her. She had been more than willing to train her body and test it to the limits even while pregnant.

In his own sort of way, Hiashi was worried about her. Hinata was touched that her father was showing he cared, even if it was a rather twisted way.

As Hinata ate the prepared breakfast, she thought back to how she, Ino, and Sakura had all approached Tsunade-sama, trying to find out what Naruto's family history was. There was a lot that she felt that she ought to know about him, and she remembered Tsunade-sama's words that she ought to ask Naruto herself about his past. She knew that his father was Yondaime Hokage, but she still didn't know that much about how or where he had grown-up. Surely he had to have some caretakers as a child, right?

It definitely gave her an excuse to go and see him, and perhaps apologize for her father's behavior. It was a good excuse too (not any lame one she might have tried to concoct on her own), and she really wanted to see what Naruto thought about the entire situation.

She also wanted to talk with him more about his relationships with Ino and Sakura. She felt that she had avoided that for too long, and she cared about Naruto enough to want to help him. If he felt pain, she wanted to do her best to ease it, especially if she had been the source of it.

Hinata bounded to her door, intent on going to find Naruto. She was therefore surprised when she opened her to door to see him standing there, his fist poised to knock, his face slightly startled that the door had opened before he had gotten his chance to do so.

"Uh, hi!" Naruto said, overcoming his awkwardness quickly, and smiling at her. The smile and the sincere tone took her breath away.

"Hi," she replied breathlessly.

"So, I thought maybe we could do something today," Naruto said, looking a little sheepish. Hinata could only stare at him dumbfounded. He was asking her to do something? She stood there, gaping at him, her heart beating erratically inside her chest.

Naruto gave her a concerned look before starting to speak again.

"Unless, of course, you have plans. Were you just about to go somewhere?" Naruto asked.

"Y-yeah. I was going to look for you," Hinata said. Naruto gave a little grin.

"See? I'm a mind reader. I'm already here!"

Hinata giggled at his words, and his grin turned into an easy smile.

"I'd love to do something," Hinata said, her voice strong, her words clear. She thought she might be able to do this without stuttering.

"Awesome. Let's take a walk and figure out what we want to do," Naruto suggested, and he made a grand gesture of offering her his arm. Blushing slightly, she took it, liking the feel of her hand wrapping around his arm.

Apparently he liked it too, because his smile got wider. He bent over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. She blushed deeply, and he laughed a little.

They began to walk, and Hinata had no idea where they were going other than away from her house. She had a feeling that Naruto didn't have a specific direction in mind either, but that was fine with her. She didn't care where they were as long as she was with him.

It was easy, really, talking with Naruto. She wondered why she had had so much trouble all those years before. Well, no, she knew why she had had so much trouble, but it felt a little silly to her now when they were easily talking about things that they liked to do, things that they had seen, and remembering about their teachers in the academy.

"Iruka-sensei told me that a good shinobi would be able to be still for long periods of time. I laughed at him. At one point, he gave me this leaf to do a sorta calming experience, and I didn't last five minutes. I thought I'd never be able to do it, ever! And now, I can be perfectly still for hours – when I want to," Naruto said, his smile wide, though his eyes held a tint of sadness. She knew what he had gone through in order to train so hard, and she also was aware of what he had lost. Sometimes she was sure that he had blocked most of that from his mind. He didn't talk about it much, and she knew that afterward he'd had some blackout moments.

"Ano-sa, I don't know too much about how you grew up..." Hinata said, changing the subject slightly, remembering her own curiosity about how he was raised. Not to mention her father had asked her to find out more about him. "I know that your parents both died around the time of your birth, but how and where did you grow up?"

"Would you believe me if I told you I don't really remember?" Naruto asked, rubbing his head awkwardly.

"Uh..."

"I grew up in an orphanage linked to one of the temples nearby. The monks who lived at the temple ran it. There weren't many kids my age. Most were older, and then when I got older, there were a few younger kids. I honestly don't really remember too much. I had duties I had to do, and then when I got into the Ninja Academy, I got my own apartment all to myself as long as I was at the Academy. Of course, they threatened to take it away from me a couple times when I pulled some of my more, er, notorious pranks. Old man Hokage never seemed too serious about it though. I wasn't really wanted at the orphanage at the Temple, and I didn't want to be there either. Staying on my own was a win-win for all of us. At least, I thought so."

"You used to get so lonely though. I should have talked to you sooner," Hinata said, frowning.

"I'm usually more observant of how people behave. I feel bad. I should have realized you liked me sooner. I mean, thinking back on it, it was obvious."

Hinata wasn't sure whether or not to be offended that he hadn't noticed sooner, or rather mortified at how obvious her intentions were.

"First you wanted to give me the answers to the chuunin written exam, then you gave me that medicine when I got hurt – and I had fought against Kiba, your teammate! And then you said the words to Neji that I had said earlier. Of course, you kept fainting and blushing every time I was around you-"

Hinata blushed.

"Like right now," Naruto said, and he was grinning widely again. Hinata realized that Naruto had been trying to make her blush. Naruto laughed again. His smile lessened, and the warmth in his eyes turned into a more heated look. "You're very cute when you blush."

Of course, that only made Hinata blush more. Naruto stopped walking. Hinata stopped too, and she dazedly realized that they had walked into a more secluded area of Konoha; they had walked right into one of its many parks. There was no one around them, and they had even walked off the path. With Naruto near her, she realized that she felt so at ease that she had lost all sense of her surroundings. Not something a good shinobi should do, but Naruto had such an overwhelming effect on her.

It didn't help that he was gazing at her so intently. Hinata's eyes darted up to meet his. Gently he took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, and tilted her head up a little.

His lips met hers, and Hinata gasped at the feeling of warmth that he gave off. Naruto's mouth moved gently against hers, and she felt as though her body could melt. She pressed herself against him, and his hand moved from her chin so that way he could wrap both of his arms around her waist. Hinata lost no time in throwing her arms around his neck, the kiss becoming more feverish.

They broke away, reluctantly, and Hinata could feel herself practically panting.

Naruto leaned his forehead against hers and closed his eyes.

"This is nice," he murmured. Hinata let her eyes fluttered closed too.

All thoughts of any of her problems of what might happen with her baby, with her father, with Ino and Sakura, with the rest of the world in general seemed to fade away. Problems didn't matter because right now, she was in the arms of the man she loved. And the best part was she knew that he was feeling quite happy as well.

**Next Chapter: Facing Facts**

* * *

So…I haven't been around in a while. I'm sorry! I can't even promise another update in two weeks, but I will do my best. Now that my fiancé and I aren't running around in our time together looking at caterers and reception locations, we have more time to work on this. (I write it, but he reads over my shoulder and edits as I type.)

And thank you to all of those who asked about my foot! Yes, it's doing a lot better now.

Anyway, what did you think of the chapter? ~ Jelp


End file.
